How and what do plants eat
How and what do plants eat
Unlike animals, which forlife requires energy, contained in organic compounds, plants receive food from inorganic elements. Plants independently synthesize from these elements organic compounds, which they use for their vital functions.
Instructions
1
The root system of the plant is aa lot of branching rootlets, so its absorbent surface is very large, which allows the plant to absorb moisture from the soil as efficiently as possible. The plant needs not only water, but also various inorganic substances, which are dissolved in soil moisture. The roots and stems of the plant are permeated with capillaries, through which water with substances dissolved in it enters the leaves of the plant.
2
Water rises up the capillaries at the expense ofa phenomenon called osmosis. Osmosis is due to the fact that the cells of the root surface are a semipermeable membrane - water freely passes through it, and the potassium ions with which the plant juices are saturated - no. Water tends to equalize the concentration of potassium ions and penetrates the plant, when the capillaries of the root are filled, water begins to flow up the plant and eventually reaches the leaves.
3
Green leaves absorb from the atmosphere carbon dioxidegas, also necessary for plant nutrition. As a result, carbon dioxide, water and various inorganic substances are found in the leaves, and photosynthesis occurs under the influence of sunlight in green leaf chloroplasts. Thanks to it, plants produce pure oxygen, which is released into the atmosphere, and synthesizes organic substances carried by capillaries to various parts of the plant, where they are used for development and growth.
4
Not all plants receive nutrientsThus, for example, cacti practically do not absorb moisture from the soil, they absorb it from the air. Also there are plants that do not absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, they absorb it together with moisture. There are predator plants, they catch insects and decompose them in special digestive bags, and then feed on the resulting compounds.
