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Mor Humus
Mor humus is a form of forest floor humus occurring mostly in coniferous forests Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e .... Mor humus consists of evergreen needles and woody debris that litter the forest floor. This litter is slow to Decomposition, decompose, in part due to their chemical composition (low pH, low nutrient content), but also because of the generally cool and wet conditions where mor humus is found. This results in low bacterial activity and an absence of earthworms and other soil fauna. Because of this, most of the organic matter decomposition in mor humus is carried out by Fungus, fungi. Mor humus is one of three classifications of forest floor humus, along with Moder humus, Moders and Mulls. Each class corresponds to a scale of increasingly colder conditi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Root Exudate
Plant root exudates are fluids emitted through the roots of plants. These secretions influence the rhizosphere around the roots to inhibit harmful microbes and promote the growth of self and kin plants. Plant root systems can grow to be complex due to a variety of species and microorganisms existing in a common soil. Plants have adapted to respond to the soil conditions and presence of microorganism, microbes through various mechanisms, one of which is the secretion of root exudates. This secretion allows plants to largely influence the rhizosphere as well as the organisms that exist within it. The contents of exudates and the amount of substance released is reliant on multiple factors, including the root system architecture, presence of harmful microbes, and metal toxicity. The species of the plant as well as its developmental stage can also influence the chemical mixture that is released through exudates. The contents may include ions, compounds of carbon, carbon-based compounds, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nitrogen Immobilization
The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which nitrogen is converted into multiple chemical forms as it circulates among atmospheric, terrestrial, and marine ecosystems. The conversion of nitrogen can be carried out through both biological and physical processes. Important processes in the nitrogen cycle include fixation, ammonification, nitrification, and denitrification. The majority of Earth's atmosphere (78%) is atmospheric nitrogen, making it the largest source of nitrogen. However, atmospheric nitrogen has limited availability for biological use, leading to a scarcity of usable nitrogen in many types of ecosystems. The nitrogen cycle is of particular interest to ecologists because nitrogen availability can affect the rate of key ecosystem processes, including primary production and decomposition. Human activities such as fossil fuel combustion, use of artificial nitrogen fertilizers, and release of nitrogen in wastewater have dramatically altered the global nitro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carbon-to-nitrogen Ratio
A carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C/N ratio or C:N ratio) is a stoichiometry, ratio of the mass of carbon to the mass of nitrogen in organic residues. It can, amongst other things, be used in analysing sediments and soil including soil organic matter and soil amendments such as compost. Sediments In the analysis of sediments, C/N ratios are a proxy for paleoclimate research, having different uses whether the sediment cores are terrestrial-based or marine-based. Carbon-to-nitrogen ratios indicate the degree of nitrogen limitation of plants and other organisms. They can identify whether molecules found in the sediment under study come from land-based or algal plants. Further, they can distinguish between different land-based plants, depending on the type of photosynthesis they undergo. Therefore, the C/N ratio serves as a tool for understanding the sources of sedimentary organic matter, which can lead to information about the ecology, climate, and ocean circulation at different times in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reduction Potential
Redox potential (also known as oxidation / reduction potential, ''ORP'', ''pe'', ''E_'', or E_) is a measure of the tendency of a chemical species to acquire electrons from or lose electrons to an electrode and thereby be reduced or oxidised respectively. Redox potential is expressed in volts (V). Each species has its own intrinsic redox potential; for example, the more positive the reduction potential (reduction potential is more often used due to general formalism in electrochemistry), the greater the species' affinity for electrons and tendency to be reduced. Measurement and interpretation In aqueous solutions, redox potential is a measure of the tendency of the solution to either gain or lose electrons in a reaction. A solution with a higher (more positive) reduction potential than some other molecule will have a tendency to gain electrons from this molecule (i.e. to be reduced by oxidizing this other molecule) and a solution with a lower (more negative) reduction potential w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microorganism
A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic scale, microscopic size, which may exist in its unicellular organism, single-celled form or as a Colony (biology)#Microbial colonies, colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen microbial life was suspected from antiquity, with an early attestation in Jain literature authored in 6th-century BC India. The scientific study of microorganisms began with their observation under the microscope in the 1670s by Anton van Leeuwenhoek. In the 1850s, Louis Pasteur found that microorganisms caused food spoilage, debunking the theory of spontaneous generation. In the 1880s, Robert Koch discovered that microorganisms caused the diseases tuberculosis, cholera, diphtheria, and anthrax. Microorganisms are extremely diverse, representing most unicellular organisms in all three domains of life: two of the three domains, Archaea and Bacteria, only contain microorganisms. The third domain, Eukaryota, includes all multicellular o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metabolism
Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the conversion of food to building blocks of proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and some carbohydrates; and the elimination of metabolic wastes. These enzyme-catalyzed reactions allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their Structures#Biological, structures, and respond to their environments. The word ''metabolism'' can also refer to the sum of all chemical reactions that occur in living organisms, including digestion and the transportation of substances into and between different cells, in which case the above described set of reactions within the cells is called intermediary (or intermediate) metabolism. Metabolic reactions may be categorized as ''catabolic''—the ''breaking down'' of compounds (for example, of glucose to pyruvate by c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tannic Acid
Tannic acid is a specific form of tannin, a type of polyphenol. Its weak acidity (Acid dissociation constant, pKa around 6) is due to the numerous phenol groups in the structure. The chemical formula for commercial tannic acid is often given as C76H52O46, which corresponds with decagalloyl glucose, but in fact it is a mixture of polygalloyl glucoses or polygalloyl quinic acid esters with the number of gallic acid, galloyl moieties per molecule ranging from 2 up to 12 depending on the plant source used to extract the tannic acid. Commercial tannic acid is usually extracted from any of the following plant parts: Tara pods (''Caesalpinia spinosa''), gallnuts from ''Rhus semialata'' or ''Quercus infectoria'' or Sicilian sumac leaves (''Rhus coriaria''). According to the definitions provided in external references such as international pharmacopoeia, Food Chemicals Codex and FAO-WHO tannic acid monograph only tannins obtained from the above-mentioned plants can be considered as tanni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tannin
Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and Precipitation (chemistry), precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' is widely applied to any large polyphenolic compound containing sufficient hydroxyls and other suitable groups (such as carboxyls) to form strong complexes with various macromolecules. The term ''tannin'' (from scientific French ''tannin'', from French ''tan'' "crushed oak bark", ''tanner'' "to tan", cognate with English language, English ''tanning'', Medieval Latin ''tannare'', from Proto-Celtic ''*tannos'' "oak") refers to the abundance of these compounds in oak Bark (botany), bark, which was used in Tanning (leather), tanning animal Hide (skin), hides into leather. The tannin compounds are widely distributed in many species of plants, where they play a role in protection from predation (acting as pesticides) and might help in regulating plant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thuja Plicata
''Thuja plicata'' is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the family Cupressaceae, native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. Its common name is western redcedar in the U.S. or western red cedar in the UK, and it is also called pacific red cedar, giant arborvitae, western arborvitae, just cedar, giant cedar, or shinglewood. It is not a true cedar of the genus ''Cedrus''. ''T. plicata'' is the largest species in the genus ''Thuja'', growing up to tall and in diameter. It mostly grows in areas that experience a mild climate with plentiful rainfall, although it is sometimes present in drier areas on sites where water is available year-round, such as wet valley bottoms and mountain streamsides. The species is shade-tolerant and able to establish in forest understories and is thus considered a climax species. It is a very long-lived tree, with some specimens reaching ages of well over 1,000 years. Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest use the wood of this species for ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acid
An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. Hydron, hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis acid. The first category of acids are the proton donors, or Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, Brønsted–Lowry acids. In the special case of aqueous solutions, proton donors form the hydronium ion H3O+ and are known as Acid–base reaction#Arrhenius theory, Arrhenius acids. Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted, Brønsted and Martin Lowry, Lowry generalized the Arrhenius theory to include non-aqueous solvents. A Brønsted–Lowry or Arrhenius acid usually contains a hydrogen atom bonded to a chemical structure that is still energetically favorable after loss of H+. Aqueous Arrhenius acids have characteristic properties that provide a practical description of an acid. Acids form aqueous solutions with a sour taste, can turn blue litmus red, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, after flowering; and to the shedding of ripe fruit. The antonym of deciduous in the botanical sense is evergreen. Generally, the term "deciduous" means "the dropping of a part that is no longer needed or useful" and the "falling away after its purpose is finished". In plants, it is the result of natural processes. "Deciduous" has a similar meaning when referring to animal parts, such as deciduous antlers in deer, deciduous teeth (baby teeth) in some mammals (including humans); or decidua, the uterine lining that sheds off after birth. Botany In botany and horticulture, deciduous plants, including trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials, are those that lose all of their Leaf, leaves for part of the year. This process is called abscission. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
