Cycling of Matter

1
Cycling of Matter
2
Recycling in the Biosphere

• In most organisms 95 of the body is made up of
  just four elements.
• Oxygen
• Carbon
• Hydrogen
• Nitrogen

3
The Cycle of Matter

• Matter changes form, but it does not disappear.
  It can be used over and over again in a
  continuous cycle.

4
The Water Cycle
5
The Water Cycle

• All living things need water to survive.
• Water moves between the ocean, atmosphere, and
  land.

6
The Water Cycle

• Water molecules enter the atmosphere as water
  vapor (a gas), when they evaporate from the ocean
  or other bodies of water.
• Evaporation
• The process by which water changes from liquid
  form to an atmospheric gas.

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The Water Cycle

• Transpiration
• Water can enter the atmosphere by evaporating
  from the leaves of plants.

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The Water Cycle

• Sun heats the atmosphere.
• Warm, moist air rises, and cools.
• Water vapor condenses into droplets that form
  clouds.
• As droplets become large enough, they return to
  the Earths surface in the form of precipitation.

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The Water Cycle

• Most precipitation runs along the surface of the
  earth until it enters a river or stream that
  carries the runoff back to a lake or ocean.
• Rain also seeps into the soil, some deeply enough
  to become ground water.

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The Water Cycle
11
Nutrient Cycles
12
Nutrient Cycles

• Nutrients
• All the chemical substances that an organism
  needs to sustain life.
• Every living organism needs nutrients to build
  tissues and carry out essential life functions.
• Nutrients are passed between organisms and the
  environment through biogeochemical cycles.

13
Elements essential for life also cycle through
ecosystems.

• Biogeochemical cycles
• A biogeochemical cycle is the movement of a
  particular chemical through the biological and
  geological, or living and non-living, parts of an
  ecosystem.
• Many substances will change states, from solid,
  to liquid, to gas, as they move through their
  cycles.

14
The Oxygen Cycle

• Plant, animals, and most other organisms need
  oxygen for cellular respiration.

15
The Oxygen Cycle
16
The Carbon Cycle

• Carbon is a key ingredient of living tissue.
• Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is an important
  component of animal skeletons, and is found in
  several kinds of rocks.
• Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important part of the
  atmosphere.
• CO2 is taken up by plants during photosynthesis,
  and given off by both plants and animals during
  cellular respiration.

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The Carbon Cycle

• Biological processes, such as photosynthesis,
  respiration, and decomposition, take up and
  release carbon and oxygen.

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The Carbon Cycle

• Geochemical processes, such as erosion and
  volcanic activity, release carbon dioxide to the
  atmosphere and oceans.

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The Carbon Cycle

• Mixed biogeochemical processes, such as the
  burial and decomposition of dead organisms and
  their conversion under pressure into coal and
  petroleum (fossil fuels), store carbon
  underground.

20
The Carbon Cycle

• Human activities, such as mining, cutting and
  burning forests, and burning fossil fuels,
  release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

21
The Carbon Cycle

• Plants take in CO2 and use carbon to build
  carbohydrates during photosynthesis.
• The carbohydrates are passed along food webs to
  animals and other consumers.

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The Carbon Cycle

• In the ocean, carbon is found along with calcium
  and oxygen in the form of calcium carbonate.
• Calcium carbonate is formed by marine organisms.
• This accumulates in marine sediments and in the
  bones and shells of organisms.

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The Carbon Cycle

• Not all carbon molecules move freely thorough the
  cycle.
• Areas that store carbon over a long period of
  time are called carbon sinks.
• Example Forest land, where large amounts of
  carbon are stored in the cellulose of wood.

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The Carbon Cycle
25
The Nitrogen Cycle

• All organisms require nitrogen to make amino
  acids, which in turn are used to make proteins.
• Many different forms of nitrogen are found in the
  biosphere.

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The Nitrogen Cycle

• Nitrogen gas (N2) makes up 78 of Earths
  atmosphere.

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The Nitrogen Cycle

• Ammonia (NH3), nitrate (NO3-), nitrite (NO2-),
  are found in wastes produced by many organisms
  and in dead and decaying organic matter.

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The Nitrogen Cycle

• Nitrogen exists in several forms in the ocean and
  other large bodies of water.

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The Nitrogen Cycle

• Human activity adds nitrogen to the biosphere in
  the form of nitratea major component of plant
  fertilizers.

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The Nitrogen Cycle

• Although nitrogen gas is the most abundant form
  of nitrogen on Earth, only certain types of
  bacteria can use this form directly.
• These bacteria live in the soil and on the roots
  of legumes, convert nitrogen gas into ammonia.
• The process is called NITROGEN FIXATION.

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The Nitrogen Cycle

• Now, other bacteria can convert the ammonia into
  nitrates and nitrites.
• Producers (plants) can use nitrates and nitrites
  to make proteins.

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The Nitrogen Cycle

• Consumers then eat the producers and reuse the
  nitrogen to make their own proteins.

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The Nitrogen Cycle

• When the consumers die, decomposers return
  nitrogen to the soil as ammonia.
• This process is called DENITRIFICATION.

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The Nitrogen Cycle
35
The Nitrogen Cycle
36
The Phosphorus Cycle

• Phosphorous is essential to living organisms
  because it forms part of important
  life-sustaining molecules such as DNA and RNA.
• Phosphorous is not very common in the biosphere.

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The Phosphorous Cycle

• Phosphorous is found mainly on land in rocks and
  soil minerals, and in ocean sediments.
• As the rocks and sediments wear down, phosphate
  is released.

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The Phosphorous Cycle

• On land, some of the phosphate washes into rivers
  and streams, where it dissolves.
• The phosphate eventually makes its way to the
  ocean, where it is used by marine organisms.

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The Phosphate Cycle

• Some phosphate stays on land and cycles between
  organisms and the soil.
• When plants absorb phosphate from the soil or
  from water, the plants bind the phosphate into
  organic compounds.

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The Phosphate Cycle
41
Nutrient Limitation

• Primary Productivity
• The rate at which organic matter is created by
  producers.
• One factor that controls primary productivity of
  an ecosystem is the amount of available
  nutrients.
• If a nutrient is in short supply, it will limit
  an organisms growth.

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Nutrient Limitation

• Limiting nutrient
• When an ecosystem is limited by a single nutrient
  that is scarce or cycles very slowly.
• These ecosystems are considered to be
  nutrient-poor environments.

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Nutrient Limitation

• Oceans can be considered to be nutrient-poor.
• Sea water contains only .00005 nitrogen
  (1/10,000 of the amount typically found in soil).
  
• In sea water and other saltwater environments,
  nitrogen is often the limiting nutrient.
• In streams, lakes, and freshwater environments,
  phosphorous is typically the limiting nutrient.

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Nutrient Limitation

• Farmers are aware of nutrient limitation and
  apply fertilizer to their crops.
• Fertilizer contains nitrogen, phosphorous, and
  potassium.

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Nutrient Limitation

• As rain comes down on fertilized fields, runoff
  will flow into the oceans and freshwater lakes
  and ponds.
• The results are ALGAL BLOOMS.