09/03/2022
Differences in pH influence the fate of CO2 in plants
🌱 Plants connect the soil and the atmosphere.
🌎 When comparing soils, the atmosphere and phytomass, all the soils on earth are the largest and most stable carbon pools we have.
🚚 How exactly the CO2 in the soils travels to the atmosphere is not quite understood yet, and neither the role that plants play in this process.
🔎 Here the researchers had a look at the effect that pH can have on the fate of CO2.
📍 Root and microbial respiration in the soil generates CO2, which then can either diffuse into the atmosphere or be taken up by plants via their root system. There is a difference between gaseous and dissolved CO2.
💡 When dissolved in water, CO2 can be present as carbonic acid, bicarbonate and carbonate, making the pH of the soil/water a crucial factor in the fate of CO2.
🔬 The researchers used isotopic tracer experiments to investigate the CO2 passage through leaves and whole plants.
🌿 At low pH CO2 could move freely into the root & get lost in the atmosphere, while bicarbonate from a high pH solution is mobile in the xylem, but its entry into the plant is restricted by the root.
👀You can find more details here: https://bit.ly/35BPoDl
Spotlight article written by Simon R. Law, illustrated by DC SciArt .