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Participant: part of or influencing processes

Plants

Appears in 74 processs and 269 steps. Everything below is linked: open a process to see it in context.

Top processes

Primary production

10 steps

Start: Primary production
End: Primary production
Light capture and photosynthesis (gross primary production)
and 7 more in this process

Terrestrial nutrient cycling

8 steps

Terrestrial carbon uptake and release

8 steps

Start: Terrestrial carbon uptake and release
End: Terrestrial carbon uptake and release
Plants fix CO2 by photosynthesis (gross primary production)
and 5 more in this process

Energy capture by living things

8 steps

Respiratory losses and carbon-use efficiency

8 steps

Start: Respiratory losses and carbon-use efficiency
End: Respiratory losses and carbon-use efficiency
Leaf, wood and root respiration burn fixed carbon
and 5 more in this process

Progressive nitrogen limitation under rising CO2

8 steps

Show 68 more processes

Belowground carbon allocation to roots and mycorrhizal fungi

8 steps

Plant-soil feedback and species coexistence

8 steps

Water movement

7 steps

Biological uptake, litter return and mineralization

7 steps

Light-use efficiency control of gross primary production

7 steps

Vegetation-water feedback and dryland patchiness

7 steps

Controls on net primary production

7 steps

Start: Controls on net primary production
End: Controls on net primary production
Leaf photosynthesis limited by light, CO2 and temperature
and 4 more in this process

Organism-environment interactions

6 steps

Plants shade and shelter the ground surface
Plant-soil feedback and species coexistence
Ecosystem engineering feedbacks
and 3 more in this process

Land water partitioning and plant water flux

6 steps

Start: Land water partitioning and plant water flux
End: Land water partitioning and plant water flux
Roots take up water from layered soil
and 3 more in this process

Evaporation and transpiration

5 steps

Start: Evaporation and transpiration
End: Evaporation and transpiration
Sunlight heats ocean surface, wet soil and leaves
and 2 more in this process

Nutrient cycling

5 steps

Which nutrient limits productivity here?
N and P are both short, so adding either one gives only partial growth
Nitrogen cycling
and 2 more in this process

Nitrogen cycling

5 steps

Phosphorus cycling

5 steps

Nutrient limitation of net primary production

5 steps

Start: Nutrient limitation of net primary production
End: Nutrient limitation of net primary production
Plants take up nitrogen and phosphorus from soil solution
and 2 more in this process

Litter quality and soil fertility reinforcing loop

5 steps

Nutrient recycling versus new inputs across ecosystem age

5 steps

Ecosystem engineering feedbacks

5 steps

Start: Ecosystem engineering feedbacks
End: Ecosystem engineering feedbacks
Engineer physically modifies the ground (burrows, mounds, litter, canopy shade)
and 2 more in this process

Nutrient-driven carbon allocation belowground

5 steps

Start: Nutrient-driven carbon allocation belowground
End: Nutrient-driven carbon allocation belowground
Nutrient scarcity raises the root mass fraction
and 2 more in this process

Nitrogen and phosphorus supply and limitation

5 steps

Start: Nitrogen and phosphorus supply and limitation
End: Nitrogen and phosphorus supply and limitation
Who takes up the released inorganic nitrogen
and 2 more in this process

Evapotranspiration partitioning (about 61 percent transpiration, range 35-90)

5 steps

Plant-mediated water flux

5 steps

Start: Plant-mediated water flux
End: Plant-mediated water flux
Transpiration is 80-90% of evapotranspiration
and 2 more in this process

Ecosystem engineering and plant-soil feedback

5 steps

Start: Ecosystem engineering and plant-soil feedback
End: Ecosystem engineering and plant-soil feedback
Organisms modify habitat as ecosystem engineers
and 2 more in this process

Living soil system

4 steps

Soil nutrient status after cycling
Plants take up mineral nutrients
Plant growth raises litter and exudate supply
and 1 more in this process

Photosynthesis and respiration (biosphere metabolism)

4 steps

Soil-plant-water coupling and drought response

4 steps

Mycorrhizal carbon-for-nutrient exchange loop

4 steps

Start: Mycorrhizal carbon-for-nutrient exchange loop
End: Mycorrhizal carbon-for-nutrient exchange loop
Plant sends photosynthate to fungal partners
and 1 more in this process

Hydraulic redistribution by roots (0.04-1.3 mm per day)

4 steps

Plant-soil feedback via litter quality

4 steps

Start: Plant-soil feedback via litter quality
End: Plant-soil feedback via litter quality
Fast-growing plants produce high-quality, nitrogen-rich litter
and 1 more in this process

Chronosequence: limiting nutrient and nutrient source shift as soil ages

4 steps

Terrestrial ecosystem functioning

3 steps

Soil formation

3 steps

Pedogenesis and soil horizon development

3 steps

Micronutrient availability: pH, redox and plant mobilisation of Fe and Zn

3 steps

Phosphorus decline and rescue across soil ages

3 steps

Infiltration and surface partitioning of rain (rain intensity vs 1-1000 mm/h soil capacity)

3 steps

Biological weathering by roots, mycorrhizal fungi and microbes (plants speed weathering about 2-10 fold)

3 steps

Soil state factors and the erosion-formation balance

3 steps

Erosion versus soil production balance

3 steps

Energy flow

2 steps

Land water: infiltration, runoff and groundwater

2 steps

Vegetation, snow, albedo and carbon feedbacks across scales

2 steps

Drainage, groundwater recharge and runoff (about 65 percent of rain returns to air, 35 percent runs off)

2 steps

Litter quality (lignin:N) sets the decay trajectory

2 steps

Roots, fungi and burrowers engineer soil formation

2 steps

Biological processes

1 step

Photosynthesis and respiration (biosphere metabolism)

Roots and rhizosphere

1 step

Photosynthate allocated belowground

Carbon cycling

1 step

Terrestrial carbon uptake and release

Water cycle

1 step

Evaporation and transpiration

Soil food web energy transfer

1 step

Plant litter and root exudates form the basal resource

Biological coupling: organic matter and soil food web

1 step

Plant litter and root inputs enter the soil

Pedogenic age sequence: from apatite phosphorus to occluded phosphorus

1 step

Old soil: P-limited, ecosystem relies on tight recycling and dust inputs

Base cation cycling (calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium)

1 step

Litterfall, canopy throughfall and root turnover return cations to the surface soil (biocycling)

Exudate priming and microbial nitrogen mining

1 step

Plant nitrogen uptake raises photosynthesis and exudation

Carbon priming, microbial efficiency and soil carbon sequestration

1 step

Plant inputs, residue return and cover crops raise carbon input

Soil disturbance (fire, tillage, drought) and recovery

1 step

Vegetation regrows or crops are replanted and supply new carbon

Aluminium toxicity and liming of acid soils

1 step

Stunted roots take up less water, Ca, Mg and phosphate, lowering yield

Biofilms and quorum signalling in soil microcolonies

1 step

Quorum quenching: AHL lactonases (AiiA) and plant signal mimics degrade or confuse the signal

Plant-available water from field capacity to wilting point

1 step

Stomata close, transpiration and photosynthesis fall, and the plant enters drought stress

Earthworm gut passage, casts and the drilosphere

1 step

Worm-driven nutrient release raises plant production: about 23% more aboveground biomass and 25% more crop yield on average

Soil evaporation stages and vapour transport

1 step

Globally transpiration is about 61% of land evapotranspiration, so soil and canopy evaporation supply the other 39%

Capillary rise from shallow groundwater and salt accumulation

1 step

Lower transpiration and a surface salt crust cut upward flux, partly self-limiting the salinisation

Earthworm drilosphere: gut passage, casts, middens and greenhouse gas effects

1 step

Higher mineral N and improved structure raise aboveground plant production by about 25% on average

Biological soil crusts: cyanobacteria, lichens and mosses on dryland surfaces

1 step

Fixed nitrogen leaks as ammonium and amino acids to the soil beneath and neighbouring plants and microbes

Nitrogen fixation supply-demand feedback

1 step

Fixer litter and root turnover add nitrogen to the soil

Energy channels in the soil food web

1 step

Root and mycorrhizal carbon feeds soil animals directly

Predator control of herbivory (trophic cascade)

1 step

Less herbivory leaves more plant biomass

Trophic efficiency and top-down control

1 step

Predators suppress herbivores and release plant biomass

Decomposition

1 step

Litter quality (lignin:N) sets the decay trajectory

Often found with

Water 63 Nitrogen 60 Phosphorus 42 Soil 37 Mycorrhizal fungi 35 Organic carbon 30 Carbon dioxide 27 Soil microbes 25 Sunlight 23 Microbes 23 Carbon 20 Plant roots 19

Known by 719 participants and resources across the map.