The air is full of nitrogen with trace amounts of carbon. The soil is rich in carbon but nitrogen poor. Plants draw carbon from the air and nitrogen from the soil.
Nitrogen as a gas (N2) has a triple bond to another nitrogen. Those are the hardest bonds to break. CO2 has strong double bonds to oxygen, but those are easier to break. Bacteria and fungi are able to split nitrogen and supply it to plant roots in exchange for carbon (sugars) in symbiotic relationships.
Side note, but we’re starting to see the exchange rates of nitrogen and carbon shift, because plants are now absorbing/exchanging so much carbon from the air
The air is full of nitrogen with trace amounts of carbon. The soil is rich in carbon but nitrogen poor. Plants draw carbon from the air and nitrogen from the soil.
Is there a reason for this? Like, just a fluke of evolution, or is it just not as bioavailable from the opposite source?
Nitrogen as a gas (N2) has a triple bond to another nitrogen. Those are the hardest bonds to break. CO2 has strong double bonds to oxygen, but those are easier to break. Bacteria and fungi are able to split nitrogen and supply it to plant roots in exchange for carbon (sugars) in symbiotic relationships.
Side note, but we’re starting to see the exchange rates of nitrogen and carbon shift, because plants are now absorbing/exchanging so much carbon from the air
Too cool! Thank you for educating me! I’m american, I think that means I owe you 200 thousand in student loans, right?
Gotta catch em all.