Module 2 Ecosystems Part 2 (1)
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felicity annModule 2 Ecosystems Part 2 (1)
Uploaded by
felicity ann• Explain the processes involved in nutrient
cycling. (CO2, CO4)
q Unlike energy,
which flows
through the
Earth’s ecosystems
in one direction
(from sun to
producers to
consumers), the
physical
components of the
ecosystems often
cycle constantly.
These components
include all of the
inorganic
(noncarbon)
substances that
make up the soil,
water and air.
All materials that cycle through living organisms are
important in maintaining the health of ecosystem, but
four substances are particularly important: water,
carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus.
Nutrient cycling
and the flow of
energy – first
from the sun, then
through organisms,
and finally into
the environment as
low-quality heat –
link the structural
components of an
ecosystem.
http://www.cengage.com/bi
ology/discipline_content/ani
mations/matter_energy.html
Chemical elements, such as carbon and nitrogen, are cycled among abiotic
and biotic components of the ecosystem. Photosynthetic and chemosynthetic
organisms take up these elements in inorganic form from the air, soil, and
water and incorporate them into their biomass, some of which is consumed
by animals. The elements are returned in inorganic form to the environment
by the metabolism of plants and animals and by organisms such as bacteria
and fungi that break down organic wastes and dead organisms.
q The paths of water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur,
as they pass from the nonliving environment to living
organisms and then back to the environment, form closed
circles or cycles, called biogeochemical cycles.
q In each biogeochemical cycle, a substance enters living
organisms from the atmosphere, water or soil, resides for a
time in the organisms, then returns to the nonliving
environment.
Soil is a thin layer over
most land that is a
complex mix of rock,
nutrients, decaying
matter, water, air and
billions of
organisms…many
microscopic
decomposers.
• Renewable
resource…SLOW
• Depends upon climate
(1cm in 15yrs.)
• Basis of life
• Filters water
• Water storage
• Habitat
Simplified food web found in soils
§ Decomposition of bodies
and wastes releases
nutrients back into the
environment (soil for
terrestrial organisms) to
be used again by other
organisms.
n Hydrologic (water) cycle
n Carbon cycle
n Nitrogen cycle
n Phosphorus cycle
n Sulfur cycle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn
41lXKyVWQ
n Nutrient cycles connect past,
present, and future forms of
life:
§ Some of the carbon atoms in your
skin may once have been part of
an oak leaf, a dinosaur’s skin, or a
layer of limestone rock.
§ Your grandmother, Attila the Hun,
or a hunter-gatherer who lived
25,000 years ago may have
inhaled some of the nitrogen
molecules you just inhaled.
§ Of all the nonliving components of an ecosystem,
water has the greatest influence on the ecosystem’s
inhabitants.
§ Water cycles within ecosystems in two ways, each
of which is driven by the sun.
§ In nonliving portion of the water cycle, water vapor
in the atmosphere condenses and falls to the Earth’s
surface as rain or snow.
§ In living portion of the water cycle, water is taken
up by the roots of plants.
PROCESS DESCRIPTION
liquid water from bodies of water (oceans, seas, rivers,
Evaporation
lakes, etc.) changes to gas (water vapor)
water vapor in the atmosphere becomes liquid; clouds
Condensation form as water vapor condenses. Clouds at ground level
are called fog or mist.
any liquid or solid water that falls to Earth as a result of
Precipitation condensation in the atmosphere, includes rain, snow &
hail
water vapor is released from plants and soil; plants
Transpiration
release vapor through their stomates/stomata
water from rain, snowmelt or other sources that flows
Surface runoff over the land surface; land area which produces runoff
draining to a common point is a watershed
water on the ground surface enters the soil; infiltration
rate is a measure of the rate in which a particular soil is
Infiltration
able to absorb rainfall or irrigation, measured in inches
per hour or millimeters per hour
https://www.eschooltoday.com/water-cycle/what-is-infiltration.html
• Large withdraw of surface and ground waters
faster than it can be replaced
• Clearing vegetation – when forests are cut
down, the water cycle is disrupted and less
moisture is returned to the atmosphere.
• Pollution
• The Earth’s atmosphere is about 0.035% CO2.
• Carbon dioxide in the air or dissolved in water
is used by plants, algae and photosynthetic
bacteria as raw material to build organic
molecules.
• Carbon atoms return to the pool of CO2 in the air and
water in three ways:
1. Cellular respiration – Nearly all living organisms, including
plants, perform cellular respiration. They use oxygen to oxidize
organic molecules during cellular respiration, and CO2 is a by-
product of this reaction.
• Carbon atoms return to the pool of CO2 in the air and
water in three ways:
2. Combustion or burning – Much carbon is contained in wood
and may stay there for many years, returning to the
atmosphere only when the wood is burned. The carbon
contained in fossil fuels like coal, petroleum and natural gas is
also released back to the atmosphere when fossil fuels are
burned.
• Carbon atoms return to the pool of CO2 in the air and
water in three ways:
3. Erosion – Marine organisms extract a substantial amount of
the CO2 dissolved in sea water and used it to build their
calcium carbonate shells. When these marine organisms die,
their shells sink to the ocean floor, become covered with
sediments, and form limestone. Eventually, as the limestone
becomes exposed and erodes, the carbon in it returned to the
pool of available carbon.
• Burning carbon-containing
fossil fuels
• Clearing carbon-
absorbing vegetation
from forests faster than it
can grow back
• Organisms contain large amounts of nitrogen because
proteins and nucleic acids are both nitrogen-rich.
• The atmosphere is 79% nitrogen (N2) gas.
• However, N2 from the air is relatively inert and must be
converted into chemically available form: ammonium and
nitrate by a process called nitrogen fixation.
1. Nitrogen fixation - process where N2 is
converted to ammonium by nitrogen-fixing
bacteria
2. Assimilation - Nitrogen uptake through
organismal growth: NH4+ → Organic N
3. Nitrogen mineralization through decay
4. Nitrification (in the presence of O2)
NH4+ → NO3-
5. Denitrification (anaerobic process)
NO3- → N2 + N2O
NO3- → NO2- → NO → N2O → N2
Atmospheric Nitrogen Fixation
electrical
N2 (g) + O2 (g) energy 2NO (g)
2NO (g) + O2 (g) 2NO2 (g)
2NO2 (g) + H2O (l) HNO2 (aq) + HNO3 (aq)
Industrial Nitrogen Fixation
catalyst
N2 (g) + 3H2 (g) 2NH3 (g)
NH3 + 2O2 HNO3 + H2O
NH3 + HNO3 NH4NO3
CH4 + 2H2O 4H2 + CO2
• Increased use of inorganic
fertilizer to grow crops
• Burning fuel containing
nitrogen oxides
• Phosphorus (P) is an essential element of all living
organisms.
• It is a key part of both ATP (energy currency of the cell)
and DNA (hereditary material in living organisms).
• Phosphorus is usually present in soil and rock as calcium
phosphate, which dissolves in water to form phosphate ions
(PO43-).
• This phosphate is absorbed by roots of plants and used to
build organic molecules such as ATP and DNA. Animals that
eat the plants reuse the organic phosphorus.
• When plants and animals die and decay, bacteria in the
soil convert the phosphorus in organic molecules back to
PO43-.
• Removing large amounts of phosphate from
the earth to make fertilizer
• Reducing phosphorus in tropical soils by
clearing forests
• Soil eroded from fertilized crop fields, lawns,
and golf courses carries large quantities of
phosphates into streams, lakes, and oceans,
stimulating the growth of producers. (ex: algal
bloom) This can upset chemical cycling and
other processes in lakes.
• Sulfur occurs in all living matter as a component of
certain amino acids.
• It is abundant in the soil, in proteins and fossil fuels.
• Through a series of microbial transformations, ends up
as sulfates which are usable by plants.
• Major sulfur-producing sources include sedimentary rocks,
which release hydrogen sulfide gas, and human sources,
such as smelters and fossil-fuel combustion, both of which
release sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.
Adding sulfur dioxide to the atmosphere through
the following:
• Burning sulfur-containing coal and oil to
produce electric power
• Refining sulfur-containing petroleum to make
gasoline, heating oil, and other products
• Converting sulfur-containing metallic mineral
ores into free metals such as copper, lead, and
zinc
• Volcanic eruption
Answer the following questions concisely and
completely:
1. Explain how cutting down a rain forest disrupts
the water cycle.
2. The burning of rain forests leads to increased
atmospheric carbon dioxide levels in two
ways. Explain how.
3. Nutrients can be reused but energy cannot.
Explain why.
