Kategoria BISAC: Nature >> Ecosystems & Habitats - Forests & Rainforests

Nitrogen fixation is a key component of the nitrogen cycle, one of the most fundamental cycles in the biosphere. Conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into organic nitrogen compounds can be carried out only by certain bacteria and blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). Some nitrogen fixing bacteria live symbiotically with leguminous plants such as peas, beans, clover, and certain tropical trees in nodules on the plants' roots, while others live independently in the soil and aquatic habitats. By the activity of these microorganisms, the soil is enriched with the nitrogen required for plant growth and...

Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas. Pub/ius Vergilius Mara Forests have long been one of mankind's most important natural re- sources and not the least because forests are, if properly managed, re- newable. They serve us in many different ways, but above all in pro- viding us with wood, one of the most remarkable and useful of all natural materials. Reaction wood, compression wood in gymnosperms and tension wood in the arboreal angiosperms, serves the function of making it possible for trees to perform movements. In the ancient Ginkgo and in the conifers, the ability to form compression...