Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: ConfusedHermit on 09/09/2012 17:23:46
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Or even a blade of grass that you just pull out from the ground?
Is that blade now useless, or does it have some use still?
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Like pretty much all organic matter that ends up on the ground it is decomposed. It'll be broken down by various decomposing organisms or 'saprotrophs' (things like bacteria, fungi, or even worms) and the components will be utilised to provide energy or produce new material. Decomposition is a form of recycling, by releasing the nutrients locked in dead material and enabling them to be utilised by other organisms. This is how soil is produced. The soil is later being used by plants as a source of nutrients required for growth, for example. Collectively it's called the 'nutrient cycle', but you can be more specific and look at the carbon cycle or the nitrogen cycle.
Eg in the carbon cycle: dead material on ground > decomposers use this material to respire and release CO2 as a waste product > CO2 is absorbed by plants for use in photosynthesis, providing energy for growth > plant dies and carbon is returned to the surroundings > repeat.
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I see. Thank you :{D~
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Since the invention of the lawnmower, some people use cut grass to make a compost heap, which they then spread as fertiliser on their garden.
Before the invention of lawnmowers, one of the main uses of cut grass was to feed herbivores. Understandably, it was the herbivores who were first in line to cut the grass...
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I like to get a long thin blade of grass and place it between my hands and blow though it . It make a loud shrill noise !...that's what nature intended !!