Acidophobe

An acidophobe is an organism that is intolerant of acidic environments.[1] The terms acidophobia, acidophoby and acidophobic are also used.[2] The term acidophobe is variously applied to plants, bacteria, protozoa, animals, chemical compounds, etc. The antonymous term is acidophile.[3]

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.[4][5] 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.[6][7]

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
  1. Robert Alan Lewis. (1998). Lewis' Dictionary of Toxicology. CRC Press. (p. 17).
  2. Acidophobe. (n.d.) -Ologies & -Isms. (2008). Retrieved March 15 2022 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Acidophobe
  3. "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.
  4. Iqbal, M. T. "Acid tolerance mechanisms in soil grown plants." Malaysian Journal of soil science 16.1 (2012): 1-21.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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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