Editing Micronutrient (section)

== Natural abundances of micronutrients ==
The natural abundance of elements is dependent on their atomic number based on the process of [[nucleosynthesis]] such that elements with higher atomic numbers are typically less abundant than elements with low atomic numbers.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Prantzos |first1=Nikos |title=Stellar Nucleosynthesis |date=2011 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Astrobiology |pages=1584–1592 |editor-last=Gargaud |editor-first=Muriel |url=https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_1084 |access-date=2025-03-17 |place=Berlin, Heidelberg |publisher=Springer |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_1084 |isbn=978-3-642-11274-4 |last2=Ekström |first2=Sylvia |editor2-last=Amils |editor2-first=Ricardo |editor3-last=Quintanilla |editor3-first=José Cernicharo |editor4-last=Cleaves |editor4-first=Henderson James (Jim)|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Most micronutrients are [[Trace element|trace elements]] with high atomic numbers, meaning they exist naturally in low concentrations.<ref name=":72" /> Notable exceptions to this rule are [[boron]] (atomic no. 5), [[manganese]] (atomic no. 25), and iron (atomic no. 26).

[[Autotroph|Primary producers]] are the main contributors to the incorporation of micronutrients into a [[Community (ecology)|community's]] chemical inventory.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sterner |first1=Robert Warner |title=Ecological stoichiometry: the biology of elements from molecules to the biosphere |last2=Elser |first2=James J. |date=2002 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-07490-0 |location=Princeton}}</ref> [[Consumer (food chain)|Consumers]] within an ecosystem are limited to the micronutrients in the tissue of the primary producers which they eat. Primary producers obtain their micronutrients from their surrounding abiotic environment and the recycling of organic matter in soils.<ref>{{Citation |last=Rengel |first=Zed |title=Cycling of Micronutrients in Terrestrial Ecosystems |date=2007 |work=Nutrient Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems |series=Soil Biology |volume=10 |pages=93–121 |editor-last=Marschner |editor-first=Petra |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-540-68027-7_4?utm |access-date=2025-04-12 |place=Berlin, Heidelberg |publisher=Springer |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-68027-7_4 |isbn=978-3-540-68027-7 |editor2-last=Rengel |editor2-first=Zdenko|url-access=subscription }}</ref> For example, grasses take in iron from soils which animals rely upon for [[hemoglobin]] production.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kobayashi |first1=Takanori |last2=Nishizawa |first2=Naoko K. |date=2012-06-02 |title=Iron Uptake, Translocation, and Regulation in Higher Plants |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-arplant-042811-105522 |journal=Annual Review of Plant Biology |language=en |volume=63|issue=1 |pages=131–152 |doi=10.1146/annurev-arplant-042811-105522 |pmid=22404471 |bibcode=2012AnRPB..63..131K |issn=1543-5008|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+Micronutrient abundances in geological sinks and corresponding primary producers
!Trace Element
!Ocean Concentration (ppm)<ref>{{Citation |last=Nozaki |first=Y. |title=ELEMENTAL DISTRIBUTION {{!}} Overview |date=2001-01-01 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences |pages=840–845 |editor-last=Steele |editor-first=John H. |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B012227430X004025 |access-date=2025-03-17 |place=Oxford |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-12-227430-5}}</ref>
!Continental crust concentration (ppm)<ref>{{Citation |last1=Rudnick |first1=R.L. |title=Composition of the Continental Crust |date=2003 |journal=Treatise on Geochemistry |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/b0-08-043751-6/03016-4 |access-date=2025-03-17 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-08-043751-4 |last2=Gao |first2=S.|volume=3 |page=659 |doi=10.1016/b0-08-043751-6/03016-4 |bibcode=2003TrGeo...3....1R |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":72">{{Cite journal |last1=Sohrin |first1=Yoshiki |last2=Bruland |first2=Kenneth W. |date=2011-09-01 |title=Global status of trace elements in the ocean |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165993611001208 |journal=TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry |series=Climate-Change Impacts on Water Chemistry |volume=30 |issue=8 |pages=1291–1307 |doi=10.1016/j.trac.2011.03.006 |issn=0165-9936|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
!Phytoplankton tissue mean concentration (ppm)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Collier |first1=Robert |last2=Edmond |first2=John |date=1984-01-01 |title=The trace element geochemistry of marine biogenic particulate matter |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0079661184900089 |journal=Progress in Oceanography |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=113–199 |doi=10.1016/0079-6611(84)90008-9 |bibcode=1984PrOce..13..113C |hdl=1912/2208 |issn=0079-6611|hdl-access=free }}</ref>
!North American grass tissue  mean concentration (ppm)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kaspari |first=Michael |date=2021-11-03 |title=The Invisible Hand of the Periodic Table: How Micronutrients Shape Ecology |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-012021-090118#right-ref-B56 |journal=Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics |language=en |volume=52 |issue=|pages=199–219 |doi=10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-012021-090118 |issn=1543-592X|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kaspari |first1=Michael |last2=de Beurs |first2=Kirsten M. |last3=Welti |first3=Ellen A. R. |date=2021 |title=How and why plant ionomes vary across North American grasslands and its implications for herbivore abundance |url=https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ecy.3459 |journal=Ecology |language=en |volume=102 |issue=10 |pages=e03459 |doi=10.1002/ecy.3459 |pmid=34171182 |bibcode=2021Ecol..102E3459K |issn=1939-9170}}</ref>
|-
|Fe
|0.03
|~35,000
|167.5
|106
|-
|Mn
|0.02
|~600
|7.7
|48.7
|-
|B
|4500
|17
|
|21.3
|-
|Mo
|10
|1.1
|
|1.0
|-
|Co
|0.0012
|17.3
|
|0.040
|-
|Ni
|0.48
|47
|12
|1.9
|-
|Cu
|0.15
|28
|13.5
|3.4
|-
|Zn
|0.35
|67
|130.8
|15.9
|-
|I
|58
|1.4
|
|
|-
|V
|2.0
|97
|
|0
|}