Metamerism in a different context should be understood in different ways. In physics, this is a phenomenon in which surfaces are perceived by the observer (for example, the human visual system or color camera) in the same color, although their physical properties are different. Chemistry considers this concept as a type of isometry, and in biology metamerism is a segmentation of the body. It is inherent in many living organisms.
Metamerism of color
This is a phenomenon in which surfaces with different physical properties are perceived in the same color. Although we are not always aware of this, metamerism is manifested both in a positive and negative way in everyday life. For example, it underlies all color rendition. We take for granted that the image of the landscape looks like a real landscape: the green color of the trees and the blue sky.
However, it is surprising that the physical properties of light, which combine to produce colors in our field of vision, and the physical properties of a real tree, or actual sky, are actually completely different. Similarly, when we print an image using a color printer, we perceive printed colors as close as possible to the actual colors of the objects in the world around us. But the physical properties of the ink used to create the print are completely different from the physical properties of real objects.
Color reproduction is an example of a situation in which metamerism has a positive effect on our daily lives. However, it can sometimes have a negative effect. Consider, for example, the infamous “jackets and trousers” problem. When buying clothes, we will find a jacket and a pair of trousers that seem to us to be a good color match. However, at home we often find that these two items no longer match, as was the case in the store. This is metamerism, which once again explains this phenomenon.
In this case, the physical properties of the two elements are different, but when viewed under store lighting and due to the processes in which we perceive colors, they corresponded to each other. However, with changing conditions, this perception has changed.
In chemistry
Metamers belong to one homologous series, for example, diethyl ether and methylpropyl ether. Typically, compounds having a divalent functional group exhibit metamerism. This is ether, ketone and others. Metamerism in chemistry is a type of isomerism due to the uneven distribution of the carbon atom on both sides of the functional group. Individual members are known as metamers. This type of isomerism is due to the uneven distribution of carbon atoms on both sides of the functional group, for example, pentanone-2 and pentanone-3 are metameres of each other.
In biology
If you were asked to describe an earthworm, what would you say? Rather, they could explain that it is small, thin, pinkish in color and is usually found in the soil. And they indicated that his body was divided into tiny vertical sections. The segmented body of an earthworm is its feature and really distinguishes it from many other types of worms. In the world of science, body segmentation is known as metamerism.
This means the repeating segments that make up the whole. This body type is found in several different groups in the animal kingdom. Pronounced segments can be observed in earthworms. This is a classic example of the same name biological metaphysics - a property of repeating body segments with different regions. In biology, metamerism is a phenomenon that has a linear series of body segments that are similar in structure. Not all such structures are completely identical in any one life form, because some of them perform special functions.
In animals
In animals, metameric segments are called somites or metamers; in plants, they are referred to as metamers or phytomers. In animals, metamerism is defined as a mesoderm event, leading to the serial repetition of single units of ectoderm and mesoderm products. The endoderm is not involved in metamerism. Segmentation is not the same concept as metamerism. It can only be limited to ectodermal derivative tissue, for example in tapeworms Cestoda. Metamerism is much more biologically important because it leads to metamers, also called somites, which play an important role in advanced locomotion.
In plants
Metamer is one of several segments that are involved in plant formation. In the metameric model, the plant consists of a series of phytomers, each of which consists of an internode and an upper node with an attached leaf. The branch itself is a collection of similar parts located one above the other in a continuous series, which is developed in successive generations. Each of these joints of the stem, bearing its leaf on top, is an element of the plant that has all the organs of vegetation, namely the stem, leaf, even the root or its equivalent.
Some plants, especially herbs, exhibit a fairly clear metameric design. Many others either do not have discrete modules, or their presence is more controversial. In vascular plants, the shoot system is fundamentally different from the root system in that the first shows a metameric structure (repeating units of organs, stem, leaf and inflorescence), and the second does not. The germ of the plant is the first metamer of shoots in spermatophytes or seed plants.
Features of metamerism in biology
What are they?
- Each metamer is a mirror image of the other.
- Segmental structures are interdependent.
- They are integrated into a single functional unit.
- All segments of the body work in coordination.
True metamerism is when body segmentation develops by segmentation of the mesoderm. This is observed in arthropods and in most chordates.