Elements such as iron, copper, cobalt, manganese, iodine, selenium, etc., are required by plants and animals in very small quantities and are termed trace elements. The importance of the inorganic salts will be understood from the fact that salt starvation causes death much earlier than food starvation. Although the salts give no energy yet they are essential for our life. [...]
The control factors of mineral metabolism is a very complicated phenomenon. In the unicellular animals the mechanism is relatively simple and is probably carried out by adjusting the permeability of the cell membrane. But in the higher animals and human beings, although this primitive system persists, yet a lot of other factors have stepped in, as a result of which, [...]
In this article we will discuss about the supply of inorganic substances for the maintenance of living matter from the abiotic components of biosphere. The entire global environment is basically made of abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) components. These components together constitute the biosphere or ecosphere. Biosphere is, therefore, defined as that part of the globe where life exists. The [...]