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Monday Open Thread | 44 comments (44 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Snow roots (none / 1)
Nitrate or simply captured Nitrogen gas ?

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Mon Jul 20th, 2009 at 12:21:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Snow roots (none / 0)
Well, the story suggests direct nitrogen, but that would be an astonishing leap in plant biochemistry never before achieved. So I'm guessing that there are trace nitrates to harvest, but where from ?

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Jul 20th, 2009 at 12:27:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Snow roots (4.00 / 2)
Bare soil in winter exchanges N with the air. The snow cover prevents the exchange. I'm not sure in what form it's absorbed by plants in thie case described here. But when the snow melts in the spring, plants grow quickly - I've heard snow called l'azote du pauvre, the poor man's nitrogen.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Jul 20th, 2009 at 12:34:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Snow roots (none / 0)
I guess it's a surface area phenomena. If there's going to be any take up of nitrogen into the water/ice, there's a huge contact surface for it.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Jul 20th, 2009 at 01:05:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Snow roots (none / 1)
Good question. From the article:
our investigation does not exclude the possibility that the snow roots are positioned inside the snow pack early on but that the major N uptake only occurs during final melt-out.


You're clearly a dangerous pinko commie pragmatist.
by Vagulus on Mon Jul 20th, 2009 at 03:00:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Snow roots (none / 0)
Some plants have a symbiotic relationship with microorganisms ((Rhizobia) that can transform nitrogen into nitrates.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Mon Jul 20th, 2009 at 01:20:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Snow roots (none / 1)
The experiment was carried out using ammonium nitrate (labelled with a traceable nitrogen isotope), so there were two chemical forms of nitrogen that could be absorbed by the snow roots. The authors say they didn't observe any colonization of these roots by mycorrhizae, but haven't formally ruled it out.

You're clearly a dangerous pinko commie pragmatist.
by Vagulus on Mon Jul 20th, 2009 at 02:53:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Monday Open Thread | 44 comments (44 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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