The Biosphere Blog

Macronutrients are those a plant requires in high concentrations. There are six of these: nitrogen (N), potassium (K), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), and sulfur (S). Plants receive these nutrients either as standalone ions or as part of… more »

Nitrogen drawdown is the loss of nitrogen to plants in the presence of high amounts of carbon, resulting in slower growth and in extreme cases, deficiencies. Drawdown occurs when large amounts of high-carbon materials such as sawdust or wood chip are… more »

In this little section on The Essentials For Life (As We Know It) so far, we’ve covered water, photosynthesis, and the nitrogen cycle, the last two being microbial in origin. This post brings these three essentials together in an essay that… more »

So far we’ve covered two essentials for life: water (for its flowing and carrying properties over a wide temperature range), and photosynthesis (for turning light energy into food which then flows up the food chain in an ecosystem). But no… more »

This post complements this earlier one as today I discovered a third ladybird/bug/beetle species enjoying a flower! Here is the minute two-spotted ladybird/ladybug/ladybeetle, officially known as Diomus notescens. And it really is minute, being just 2.5… more »

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, algae, cyanobacteria, and a few other bacterial species convert light energy into chemical energy, which is stored as a food source. Photosynthetic organisms thus produce their own food, and are called… more »

Did you know there is only one substance that absolutely must be available to all living things on planet Earth? It isn’t oxygen — while that’s essential for animals and for non-photosynthetic processes within a plant, it’s a poisonous… more »

This earlier post described the four branch types peculiar to jujube trees: primary (extension) branches, secondary (non-extension) branches, fruiting mother branches, and fruiting branchlets. Also mentioned were the two bud types, main and secondary,… more »

Around 7pm the other evening I was perusing my trees, and — as I often do, gently pulled down a fruiting branchlet above to look more closely with my loupe at the flowers and developing fruits along it. To my absolute horror it came away in my hand! I… more »

Anthesis is the period or action of a flower opening, and this post will document two Ta-Jan flowers doing exactly that. Firstly, a refresher on the parts of a jujube flower to make this easier to follow along:     Stamens and anthers are mentioned a… more »

Update: 5th October 2023 Much thanks to entomologist Katherine Rawson for her help in identifying the ant species in this post to at least the genus level — very much appreciated! Pollinators are essential to many flowering plants’ reproduction. A… more »

Back here were lots of pretty pictures of jujube flowers, but not exactly much in the way of information as to what you were looking at. As with that week, this week is another time-poor one I’m afraid. But while this post will also be… more »

This week I thought I’d follow up on the last paragraph of this older post that had been getting some recent attention, as well as my comment under that post. Fig. 1 below is the very same Lang referred to. This photo was taken on 19th October… more »

Rather than a post last week, we had threee guest comments under this older post — direct links are here, here and here — and a big thank you to Adrian and Airlie for sharing their experiences! I stupidly didn’t actually post those links publicly… more »

This earlier post lists the most important nutrients plants require to grow, flower and fruit. But barring a full laboratory soil or leaf analysis, most people only become aware of any deficiencies when their trees show poor growth and development. By… more »