Timeline for How concentrated would a metal ore need to be to be extractable by a suitable plant?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Feb 25, 2015 at 23:04 | comment | added | Brad | Maybe the plants produce the little metal orbs because these plants are the man-eating ones asked about in another question... ;) | |
| Feb 25, 2015 at 22:56 | comment | added | Kromey | Many metals are colorful and/or highly reflective -- gold and silver leap to mind. Theoretically a plant might evolve in such a way as to use these shiny "nodules" as an attractant for e.g. bees -- exactly the same reason as flowering plants produce brightly-colored flowers. Other possible advantages include using them to help protect the seeds (or to draw attention to them, same reason as many berries are brightly-colored), as a conductor for bioelectric currents (not sure what those would be for...), as a catalyst (for e.g. bioluminescence), etc. | |
| Feb 25, 2015 at 22:51 | history | edited | Monty Wild♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 21 characters in body
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| Feb 25, 2015 at 22:50 | comment | added | Monty Wild♦ | @EmmettR. quite possibly, but the greatest advantage by far would be for humans to want to protect the plant. Look at other human crops, and consider how well they'd do without humans. | |
| Feb 25, 2015 at 22:44 | comment | added | Emmett R. | Great minds think alike. However, I do think there could be natural, evolutionary reasons for having metallic excretions. | |
| Feb 25, 2015 at 22:42 | history | answered | Monty Wild♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |