Silicon helps plants thrive as ecosystems age

All LIT Search News Topics Latest news Media statements Media contacts Topics Latest news Media statements Media contacts LIT Impact Latest news 2020 September Silicon helps plants thrive as ecosystems age Silicon helps plants thrive as ecosystems age 07/09/2020 | 2 MINS A team of international researchers carried out a study, published in Science, of the biodiverse vegetation on the coastal dunes at Jurien Bay to understand how the silica found in soils could provide silicon available to plants. They found a major change in the soil-plant silicon cycle as the ecosystems aged over a two million year period. As ecosystems age, the researchers found that the silicon in plants switched from a mineral to a biological origin through the dissolution of the soil silica bodies derived from plant remains. This caused the concentrations of silicon in plants to steadily increase. By contrast, the plant concentrations of all major nutrients, such as phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and potassium, steadily decreased because they are lost as ecosystems age. This suggests silicon plays a major role in supporting old ecosystems, helping plants to withstand environmental stress, which in turn influen

All LIT Search News Topics Latest news Media statements Media contacts Topics Latest news Media statements Media contacts LIT Impact Latest news 2020 September Silicon helps plants thrive as ecosystems age Silicon helps plants thrive as ecosystems age 07/09/2020 | 2 MINS A team of international researchers carried out a study, published in Science, of the biodiverse vegetation on the coastal dunes at Jurien Bay to understand how the silica found in soils could provide silicon available to plants.

They found a major change in the soil-plant silicon cycle as the ecosystems aged over a two million year period.

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