The structure and mechanics of Moso bamboo material.

Although bamboo has been used structurally for millennia, there is currently increasing interest in the development of renewable and sustainable structural bamboo products (SBPs). These SBPs are analogous to wood products such as plywood, oriented strand board and glue-laminated wood. In this study, the properties of natural Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) are investigated to further enable the processing and design of SBPs. The radial and longitudinal density gradients in bamboo give rise to variations in the mechanical properties. Here, we measure the flexural properties of Moso bamboo in the axial direction, along with the compressive strengths in the axial and transverse directions. Based on the microstructural variations (observed with scanning electron microscopy) and extrapolated solid cell wall properties of bamboo, we develop models, which describe the experimental results well. Compared to common North American construction woods loaded along the axial direction, Moso bamboo is approximately as stiff and substantially stronger, in both flexure and compression but denser. This work contributes to critical knowledge surrounding the microstructure and mechanical properties of bamboo, which are vital to the engineering and design of sustainable SBPs.

[Retrieval of leaf area index of moso bamboo forest with Landsat Thematic Mapper image based on PROSAIL canopy radiative transfer model].

The PROSAIL canopy radiative transfer model was used to establish leaf area index (LAI) and canopy reflectance lookup-table for Moso bamboo forest. The combination of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) image and this model was then used to retrieve LAI. The results demonstrated that the sensitivity of the input parameters in the PROSAIL model decreased in order of LAI >chlorophyll content (C(ab)) > leaf structure parameters (N) > mean leaf angle (ALA) > equivalent water thickness (C(w)) > dry matter content (C(m)). The most sensitive factors LAI and C(ab) were then used to construct the LAI-canopy reflectance lookup-table. The LAI estimates from the PROSAIL model had good agreement with the reference data, with the coefficient of determination (R2) reached 0.90. The root mean square error (RMSE) and relative RMSE were 0.58 and 13.0%, respectively. However, the mean LAI estimate was higher than the observed value.

Food mechanical properties in three sympatric species of Hapalemur in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar.

We investigated mechanical dietary properties of sympatric bamboo lemurs, Hapalemur g. griseus, H. aureus, and H. (Prolemur) simus, in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. Each lemur species relies on bamboo, though previous behavioral observations found that they specialize on different parts of a common resource (Tan: Int J Primatol 20 1999 547-566; Tan: PhD dissertation 2000 State University of New York, Stony Brook). On the basis of these earlier behavioral ecology studies, we hypothesized that specialization on bamboo is related to differences in mechanical properties of specific parts. We quantified mechanical properties of individual plant parts from the diets of the bamboo lemur species using a portable tester. The diets of the Hapalemur spp. exhibited high levels of mechanical heterogeneity. The lemurs, however, could be segregated based on the most challenging (i.e., mechanically demanding) foods. Giant bamboo culm pith was the toughest and stiffest food eaten, and its sole lemur consumer, H. simus, had the most challenging diet. However, the mechanical dietary properties of H. simus and H. aureus overlapped considerably. In the cases where lemur species converged on the same bamboo part, the size of the part eaten increased with body size. Plant parts that were harvested orally but not necessarily masticated were the most demanding, indicating that food preparation may place significant loads on the masticatory apparatus. Finally, we describe how mechanical properties can influence feeding behavior. The elaborate procurement processes of H. simus feeding on culm pith and H. griseus and H. aureus feeding on young leaf bases are related to the toughnesses of protective coverings and the lemurs' exploitation of mechanical vulnerabilities in these plants.