An acidophobe is an organism that is intolerant of acidic environments. The terms acidophobia, acidophoby and acidophobic are also used. The term acidophobe is variously applied to plants, bacteria, protozoa, animals, chemical compounds, etc. The antonymous term is acidophile.
Plants are known to be well-defined with respect to their pH tolerance, and only a small number of species thrive well under a broad range of acidity. Therefore the categorization acidophile/acidophobe is well-defined. Sometimes a complementary classification is used (calcicole/calcifuge, with calcicoles being "lime-loving" plants). In gardening, soil pH is a measure of acidity or alkalinity of soil, with pH = 7 indicating the neutral soil. Therefore acydophobes would prefer pH above 7. Acid intolerance of plants may be mitigated by lime addition and by calcium and nitrogen fertilizers.
Acidophobic species are used as a natural instrument of monitoring the degree of acidifying contamination of soil and watercourses. For example, when monitoring vegetation, a decrease of acidophobic species would be indicative of acid rain increase in the area. A similar approach is used with aquatic species.
Acidophobes
- Whiteworms (Enchytraeus albidus), a popular live food for aquarists, are acidophobes.
- Acidophobic compounds are the ones which are unstable in acidic media.
- Acidophobic crops: alfalfa, clover
References
- Robert Alan Lewis. (1998). Lewis' Dictionary of Toxicology. CRC Press. (p. 17).
- Acidophobe. (n.d.) -Ologies & -Isms. (2008). Retrieved March 15 2022 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Acidophobe
- "acid, -acidi-, acido-, -acidity". Robertson's Words for a Modern Age: A Dictionary of Latin and Greek Words used in Modern-English Vocabulary. wordinfo.info. Retrieved 2006-08-26.
- Iqbal, M. T. "Acid tolerance mechanisms in soil grown plants." Malaysian Journal of soil science 16.1 (2012): 1-21.
- Yost, R. S. "Plant tolerance of low soil pH, soil aluminum, and soil manganese." Plant Nutrient Management in Hawaii’s Soils 11 (2000): 113-115.
- Rao, I. M.; Zeigler, R. S.; Vera, R.; Sarkarung, S. (1993). "Selection and Breeding for Acid-Soil Tolerance in Crops". BioScience. 43 (7): 454–465. doi:10.2307/1311905. ISSN 0006-3568. JSTOR 1311905.
- Jiang, Tinghui; Zhan, Xinhua; Xu, Yangchun; Zhou, Lixiang; Zong, Lianggang (2005). "[Roles of calcium in stress-tolerance of plants and its ecological significance]". Ying Yong Sheng Tai Xue Bao = the Journal of Applied Ecology. 16 (5): 971–976. ISSN 1001-9332. PMID 16110682.
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