Topic 14 - Plants acquire nutrients via roots and microbes
Essential elements from Topic 14:
In this topic, we discuss the basics of how plants acquire the water and nutrients necessary to sustain life. We will learn that
• nutrients extracted from soil must be in a soluble ionic form and uptake involves active processes
• nitrogen is taken up as nitrate, nitrite, or as ammonium; solubility of nitrogen species and their diffusivity is relatively high
• phosphorus is taken up as phosphate and its solubility and diffusivity are low
• plants use a fungal association (mycorrhizae) for phosphorus uptake
• some plant species harbor nitrogen-fixing bacteria that provide ammonium and simple amino acids for plant growth
Given the autotrophic dependence and general immobility of plants, a number of adaptation allow them to persist through rather large changes in the quality of the physical environment. In this lecture, we will see just how acclimation responses allow leaves to photosynthesize across a wide range of environmental conditions.
Essential elements from Topic 14:
In this topic, we discuss the basics of how plants acquire the water and nutrients necessary to sustain life. We will learn that
• nutrients extracted from soil must be in a soluble ionic form and uptake involves active processes
• nitrogen is taken up as nitrate, nitrite, or as ammonium; solubility of nitrogen species and their diffusivity is relatively high
• phosphorus is taken up as phosphate and its solubility and diffusivity are low
• plants use a fungal association (mycorrhizae) for phosphorus uptake
• some plant species harbor nitrogen-fixing bacteria that provide ammonium and simple amino acids for plant growth
Given the autotrophic dependence and general immobility of plants, a number of adaptation allow them to persist through rather large changes in the quality of the physical environment. In this lecture, we will see just how acclimation responses allow leaves to photosynthesize across a wide range of environmental conditions.