Ecology Cycles
Carbon Cycle, Nitrogen Cycle & Phosphorus Cycle
The Carbon Cycle: Process by which carbon is cycled between the atmosphere, land, water and organisms.
- Carbon enter a short-term cycle in the ecosystem when producers, such as plants, convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into carbohydrates during photosynthesis
- when consumers eat producers, the consumers obtain carbon from the carbohydrates
- Limestone is is one of the largest carbon sinks, or carbon reservoirs on Earth
When humans burn fossil fuels, we release carbon into the atmosphere
The Nitrogen Cycle: All organisms need nitrogen to build proteins, which are used to build new cells
- Nitrogen-fixing bacteria are a crucial part of the nitrogen cycle( a process in which nitrogen is cycled between the atmosphere, bacteria, and other organisms)
- Decomposers are essential to the nitrogen cycle because they break down wastes, such as urine, dung, leaves, and other decaying plants & animals and return the nitrogen that these wastes and dead organisms contain to the soil
The Phosphorus Cycle: An element that is a part of many molecules that make up the cells of living organisms
- The movement of phosphorus from the enviroment to organisms and then back to the atmosphere because phosphorus from the enviroment to organisms and then back to the enviroment
- Plants absorb phosphates in the soil through roots
- Phosphorus is added to soil and water when excess phosphorus is excreted in waste from organisms and when organisms die and decompose
- Some also washes off the land and eventually ends up in the ocean