Subtropical gyres are enormous rotating ocean currents that generate sustained circulations in the Earth's subtropical regions just to the north and south of the equator. These gyres are slow-moving whirlpools that circulate ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 3, 2022
0
263
Virtually all marine life—fish, turtles, sharks, whales and more—depend on the marine food web for survival. The foundation of this immense flow of energy, however, rests on the shoulders of the microscopic but mighty ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 21, 2022
0
533
Researchers have found that nitrogen-fixing legume trees can support themselves and surrounding trees not only with increased access to nitrogen, but with other key nutrients through enhanced mineral weathering.
Environment
Mar 8, 2021
0
884
More intense and frequent fires are reducing the size of tree communities in many regions of the world.Slower-growing tree species are better at surviving fires, but these may capture less atmospheric carbon and reduce nutrient ...
Ecology
Feb 25, 2021
14
341
In a changing climate, understanding how organisms respond to stress conditions is increasingly important. New work led by Carnegie's Arthur Grossman and Emanuel Sanz-Luque could enable scientists to engineer the metabolism ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 15, 2020
0
82
Researchers across the globe have long tackled the question: Is there life on other planets, and if so, how do we find it? Faced with thousands of planets to explore beyond our solar system, scientists need a way to predict ...
Astronomy
May 19, 2020
4
363
Providing seeds with a protective coating that also supplies essential nutrients to the germinating plant could make it possible to grow crops in otherwise unproductive soils, according to new research at MIT.
Ecology
Nov 25, 2019
2
226
A team of Whitehead Institute scientists has for the first time revealed the molecular structure of a critical growth regulator bound to its partner proteins, creating a fine-grained view of how they interact to sense nutrient ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 11, 2019
0
157
An international team of Earth system scientists and oceanographers has created the first high-resolution global map of surface ocean phosphate, a key mineral supporting the aquatic food chain. In doing so, the University ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 28, 2019
1
162
The vast subtropical "gyres—large systems of rotating currents in the middle of the oceans—cover 40 percent of the Earth's surface and have long been considered biological deserts with stratified waters that contain very ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 10, 2019
1
204
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.
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