If you were to collect all the organisms from the ocean surface down to 200 meters, you'd find that SAR11 bacteria, though invisible to the naked eye, would make up a fifth of the total biomass. These bacteria, also known ...
Cell & Microbiology
14 hours ago
0
14
Lake Okeechobee is the largest lake in Florida and the second largest in the Southeastern United States. Over the past two decades, blooms of blue-green algae (Microcystis) have emerged in the lake and have been flushed into ...
Ecology
Sep 10, 2024
0
5
Despite covering just 2% of the ocean, coastal wetlands—such as tidal salt marshes, mangrove forests and seagrass beds—are responsible for storing nearly half of all carbon found in ocean sediment. These "blue carbon" ...
Environment
Aug 28, 2024
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1
How will global warming impact marine ecosystems? This is a critical question when addressing future climate change. Sustained climate change may have a particularly large negative effect on one of the smallest lifeforms ...
Environment
Aug 22, 2024
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62
Warming water temperatures and increased nutrient levels are putting freshwater ecosystems at serious risk, new research has revealed.
Ecology
Aug 15, 2024
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1
An international team of researchers discovered that coastal urban seagrass ecosystems can significantly reduce human bacterial pathogens, including those with widespread antibiotic resistance, in marine bivalves—a vital ...
Ecology
Aug 9, 2024
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137
The general health of forests can be estimated by the micro- and macronutrient content of tree leaves to help inform forest management decisions in light of climate change, species loss and other variables. Traditional methods ...
Ecology
Aug 9, 2024
0
15
New research led by an NAU alumnus shows that backyard bird feeders, although put out with the best of intentions, is changing the chemistry of local ecosystems, including introducing a potentially harmful amount of phosphorus ...
Ecology
Aug 8, 2024
1
224
A new scientific paper from Teagasc, UCC and international collaborators has shown diversification of the plant species in swards can be more effective than the application of microbial inoculants in supporting productivity ...
Agriculture
Aug 7, 2024
0
0
U.S. Forest Service researchers and partners published new findings on how leaf-eating insects affect forest ecosystems worldwide.
Ecology
Aug 3, 2024
0
42
A nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism's metabolism which must be taken in from its environment. They are used to build and repair tissues, regulate body processes and are converted to and used as energy. Methods for nutrient intake vary, with animals and protists consuming foods that are digested by an internal digestive system, but most plants ingest nutrients directly from the soil through their roots or from the atmosphere.
Organic nutrients include carbohydrates, fats, proteins (or their building blocks, amino acids), and vitamins. Inorganic chemical compounds such as dietary minerals, water, and oxygen may also be considered nutrients. A nutrient is said to be "essential" if it must be obtained from an external source, either because the organism cannot synthesize it or produces insufficient quantities. Nutrients needed in very small amounts are micronutrients and those that are needed in larger quantities are called macronutrients. The effects of nutrients are dose-dependent and shortages are called deficiencies.
See healthy diet for more information on the role of nutrients in human nutrition.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
