Archimedes Plutonium wrote:
snip


Somehow, in passing through the bodies of animals and insects, these N, P, K
etc atoms are transformed in a vital way.

You see, I refuse to think that animals are _merely a transportation_ mechanism
for plant kingdom. I believe that in the process of passing through the bodies
of animals and insects that plant food becomes transformed into plant
fertilizer.

I believe animals came in existence not just as a tranportation and scattering
mechanism but for chemical transformation of plant food into plant
fertilizer.


It could be the benifit of animal manure is that it's more concentrated (and both
mechanicaly and chemicaly broken down to some extent) than the original plant 'meal'.
It will be mostly bacterial and fungal action that will make the carbon, nitrogen etc.
accesible to the plant regardless of the source (plant, animal manure or animal
bodies).



elements in it, the rabbit had to eat a plant that contained those elements.
The plant extracted the elements from the soil. So at best, the rabbit manure
puts the nutrient back onto the soil. Agricultural use of manure works since
it is applied to land where the animal's feed source did NOT grow, so in a
sense, you are importing nutrients from somebody else's field. Nitrogen-fixing
bacteria can be important, especially those associated with legumes, bayberry,
and other plants.

Perhaps the legumes are the plants that are the most self reliant of all plants in
that they harness bacteria to make their own fertilizer. But I suspect that even
these legumes would quickly die if no animals or insects existed.

Plants can be happily grown on non-animal food sources - sugar, salts (potassium
phosphate, magnesium sulphate, ammonium nitrate and a few others depending on plant)
and abit of iron.
Most animals provide no benifit to plants, they just want to eat them. There are
however many examples where the plant has managed to take advantage of this fact, and
may now be dependent on it. Without animals some species would suffer (those which
require insect-mediated pollination for example) but i doubt the plant kingdom would.