Part Seven - Flowering Plants: Form and Function 743

36. Plant Nutrition 780

36.1 How Do Plants Acquire Nutrients? 781 Autotrophs make their own organic compounds 781 How does a stationary organism find nutrients? 782 36.2 What Mineral Nutrients Do Plants Require? 782 Deficiency symptoms reveal inadequate nutrition 783 Several essential elements fulfill multiple roles 784 Experiments were designed to identify essential elements 784 36.3 What Are the Roles of Soil? 785 Soils are complex in structure 785 Soils form through the weathering of rock 786 Soils are the source of plant nutrition 786 Fertilizers and lime are used in agriculture 787 Plants affect soil fertility and pH 787 36.4 How Does Nitrogen Get from Air to Plant Cells? 788 Nitrogen fixers make all other life possible 788 Nitrogenase catalyzes nitrogen fixation 789 Some plants and bacteria work together to fix nitrogen 789 Biological nitrogen fixation does not always meet agricultural needs 789 Plants and bacteria participate in the global nitrogen cycle 790 36.5 Do Soil, Air, and Sunlight Meet the Needs of All Plants? 792 Carnivorous plants supplement their mineral nutrition 792 Parasitic plants take advantage of other plants 792