Know the proportion of plant dry mass derived from soil.

Know the criteria for nutrient essentiality.

Know the essential elements required by higher plants and at least one function of each nutrient

Understand the chemical features of soil that affect nutrient availability

Understand cation exchange capacity and how it influences soil fertility

Understand that position along the root influences nutrient uptake

Understand the three processes involved root-nutrient contact.

Be able to draw a root in cross-section and identify the cells involved in nutrient uptake

Know the role of the endodermis in regulating nutrient uptake.

Understand the four processes involved in nutrient uptake

Be able to explain why nutrient uptake is an active process

Know the function of the Casparian strip in nutrient uptake

Understand the impact of temperature and O₂ on nutrient uptake

Know the function of mycorrhizae in nutrient uptake

Understand how nutrient recycling within a plant can influence nutrient use

Understand how reciprocal grafting can be used to study root/shoot interactions

Know how root morphology influences nutrient uptake

Understand how frequency and rate of fertilizer application influence nutrient uptake and yield

Know what foliar fertilization is and its impact on nutrient uptake and yield

Understand how cultivar selection and fertilizer management influences yield

Know the functions of N in plants

Know the forms of N found in soil

Understand the dynamics of the N cycle in the biosphere

Understand ammonium uptake and assimilation

Understand nitrate uptake, reduction and assimilation

Understand how nitrate reduction is regulated in plants

Be able to compare the types of N₂ fixation found in higher plants

Be able to estimate the amounts of N fixed in a growing season by annual and perennial legumes and why these values differ

Understand host-symbiont specificity and the mechanisms by which this is achieved

Know the correct bacterial species that forms effective nodule on alfalfa, true clovers, sweetclover, pea, soybean, common bean, and birdsfoot trefoil

Be able to describe the infection process from host-symbiont recognition to formation of functional nodules.

Know what leghemoglobin is, how it is synthesized, and its role in N2 fixation

Understand why Co and Mo are key nutrients for leguminous plants

Know the reactions catalyzed by nitrogenase, including the sources of substrates

Know the products of N₂ fixation synthesized in cool- and warm-season leguminous plants

Know how leaf area and photosynthesis influence N₂ fixation and why

Understand how soil N levels influence N₂ fixation and why.

Understand how N₂ fixation changes with plant development

Understand how environmental stress alters N₂ fixation.