Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Some species of acorns of oak contain large amounts. For example, acorns of Quercus robur and Quercus petraea in Poland were found to contain 2.4–5.2% and 2.6–4.8% tannins as a proportion of dry matter, [50] but the tannins can be removed by leaching in water so that the acorns become edible. [51]
The phenolic unit can be found dimerized or further polymerized, creating a new class of polyphenol. For example, ellagic acid is a dimer of gallic acid and forms the class of ellagitannins, or a catechin and a gallocatechin can combine to form the red compound theaflavin, a process that also results in the large class of brown thearubigins in tea.
Lignin is a class of complex organic polymers that form key structural materials in the support tissues of most plants. [1] Lignins are particularly important in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, because they lend rigidity and do not rot easily. Chemically, lignins are polymers made by cross-linking phenolic precursors.
Decomposer. Fungi acting as decomposers of a fallen tree branch. Decomposers are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms; they carry out decomposition, a process possible by only certain kingdoms, such as fungi. [1] Like herbivores and predators, decomposers are heterotrophic, meaning that they use organic material to get their ...
Mucilage. A sundew with a leaf bent around a fly trapped by mucilage. Mucilage is a thick gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms. These microorganisms include protists which use it for their locomotion, with the direction of their movement always opposite to that of the secretion of mucilage. [1]
Biological carbon fixation, or сarbon assimilation, is the process by which living organisms convert inorganic carbon (particularly carbon dioxide) to organic compounds. These organic compounds are then used to store energy and as structures for other biomolecules. Carbon is primarily fixed through photosynthesis, but some organisms use ...
Organic matter. Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have come from the feces and remains of organisms such as plants and animals. [1]
An endophyte is an endosymbiont, often a bacterium or fungus, that lives within a plant for at least part of its life cycle without causing apparent disease. Endophytes are ubiquitous and have been found in all species of plants studied to date; however, most of the endophyte/plant relationships are not well understood.