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How do animals get the nitrogen they need?

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The nitrates are easily absorbed by plant roots. In this way, nitrogen is passed into the food chain and ultimately returned to the soil, water, and atmosphere by the metabolism and decay of plants and animals. read more

This nitrogen is in an unusable form for plants or animals, however. Instead, animals and humans eat plants or eat other animals that eat plants. The plants are rich in nitrogen that they acquire from either the soil or the water in which they grew. read more

Bacteria in the soil are mainly responsible for breaking this bond to create organic nitrates that are used by the plants. Such bacteria are called "nitrogen-fixing bacteria" because they take nitrogen from the air (N2) and "fix" it into ammonium (NH4+). Then other bacteria called nitrifying bacteria convert this ammonium to nitrate and nitrite. read more

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