NUTRIENT CYCLING

• Nutrient cycling is an essential process in an ecosystem.

• In the nutrient cycle, the usage of the nutrients in the
environment, their movement, processes, and recycling are
described.
• Important nutrients include carbon, oxygen, hydrogen,
phosphorus and nitrogen are required to be recycled for the
existence of organisms.
• Nutrients cycles involve not only living organisms, but non-
living components as well.
• They also involve biological, geological, and chemical
processes and thus, these nutrient circuits are also known as
biogeochemical cycles.
 BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES

1. Global Cycles
Elements such as
• carbon,
• nitrogen,
• oxygen and
• hydrogen
are recycled through abiotic environments which include the atmosphere,
water and soil, which the atmosphere being the main abiotic environment
where these elements are harvested. Hence, their cycles are of a global
nature.
2. Local Cycles
These elements may then travel over long distances before
they are being taken up by biological organisms. In the
recycling of elements such as phosphorus, calcium and
potassium, the soil is the main abiotic environment and thus
their movement is usually over a local region.
 CYCLES OF ELEMENTS
1. CARBON CYCLE
• Carbon, being the main component of
living organisms, is vital to life.
• It is a fundamental element for all
organic polymers such as
carbohydrates, proteins and lipids.
• Carbon dioxide and methane, are
examples of carbon compounds that
circulate in the atmosphere and
influence global climates.
• Through the processes of
photosynthesis and respiration, carbon
is also circulated between living
organisms and nonliving components
of the ecosystem.
 Fast Carbon Cycle
• Fast carbon cycle is the movement of
carbon through biotic components in
the environment.
• Plants and other organisms that are
capable of photosynthesis, obtain
carbon dioxide from their
environment and use it to build
biological substances.
• Plants, animals, and decomposers
such as bacteria and fungi, return the
carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by
Carbon enters the atmosphere as carbon respiration.
dioxide through respiration and
combustion.
Fast Carbon Cycle

• Carbon dioxide is
absorbed by plants and
other photosynthetic
organisms to make
carbohydrates, in
photosynthesis. (Oxygen
is released in this
process)
Fast Carbon Cycle
• Carbon compounds are passed
along the food chain when
animals feed on plants.
• Most of this carbon is then
released as carbon dioxide
during respiration.
• The plants and animals
eventually die.
Fast Carbon Cycle
• The decomposers then consume
these dead organisms, returning
the carbon in their bodies to the
atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
• In certain conditions where
decomposition is blocked, the
plant and animal material can
then be available as fossil fuel in
the future for possible
combustion.
 Slow Carbon Cycle:
• The movement of
carbon through the
abiotic elements in the
environment such as
rocks, soil, and oceans
forms the slow carbon
cycle.
• Moving of carbon
through these abiotic
elements can take as
long as 200 million
years.
NITROGEN CYCLE
• Nitrogen is also an
essential component of
biological molecules such
as amino acids and nucleic
acids.
• Although nitrogen is
abundant in the
atmosphere, nitrogen in
this form cannot be used
by most living organisms to
synthesise organic
compounds.
Hence, nitrogen must first undergo fixation and be
converted into ammonia by certain types of bacteria.

• As organisms like nitrogen fixing bacteria use nitrogen to synthesise

the biological molecules needed for survival, atmospheric nitrogen
has to be first converted to ammonia by nitrogen fixing bacteria in
aquatic and soil environments.
• Ammonia is then converted to nitrite and nitrate by the bacteria.
• Plants obtain nitrogen from the soil by absorbing ammonium (NH4-)
and nitrate through their roots. Nitrate and ammonium are then used
to produce organic compounds.
• Animals then consume plants and thus attain the nitrogen in the
organic compounds. The nitrogen in organic form is then passed
down the food chain when other animals eat these animals.
• Decomposers then return ammonia into the soil by decomposing
solid waste and dead or decaying matter.
• Nitrifying bacteria convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrate.
• Denitrifying bacteria then convert nitrite and nitrate to nitrogen,
releasing nitrogen back into the atmosphere.
OXYGEN CYCLE

• Oxygen is another vital element in life

and is essential to us in many ways.
Oxygen can be dissolved in water and
support aquatic life.
• It is also needed for the
decomposition of organic waste.
• Wastes from living organisms are
called biodegradable as there are
aerobic bacteria that convert these
organic waste materials into stable
inorganic materials and these aerobic
bacteria requires oxygen.
OXYGEN CYCLE
• Majority of the oxygen found in the atmosphere is derived
from the process of photosynthesis, where plants and other
photosynthetic organisms use Carbon dioxide, water and
light energy to produce Oxygen and glucose.
• The glucose formed is then used to synthesise organic
molecules while Oxygen is released into the atmosphere.
• Oxygen is then removed from the atmosphere through
processes of decomposition and respirations in organisms.
 PHOSPHORUS CYCLE
• Phosphorus is an element that can
be found in several compound
forms in water, soil and sediments.
• Phosphorus is an essential nutrient
needed for plant growth and
animals as well.
• It has a vital role in cell
development and is a key
component of molecules that
store energy such as Adenosine
Triphosphate (ATP),
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) and
lipids.
 Rocks when in contact with rainwater,
release phosphate ions and other minerals
over time
• This inorganic phosphate is then distributed in soils and water.
• Plants then take up inorganic phosphate from the soil, and these plants
may then be consumed by animals.
• The phosphate is then incorporated into organic molecules such as DNA,
and when plants or animals die and decay, the organic phosphate is
returned to the soil.
• Bacteria in the soil then breaks down the organic matter into forms of
phosphate that is absorbable by plants. It is also a process called
mineralisation.
• Phosphorus in the soil can then end up in waterways and oceans, and can
be incorporated into sediments over time.
 OTHERS
Sulphur cycle: Hydrological cycle:
• Sulphur is a solid in its natural form
and in this form, it is restricted to
• Water is the most essential
the sedimentary cycle. It can be chemical of life for all living
transported by physical processes organisms.
such as wind, erosion by water, and
geological events like volcanic • In the atmosphere, water is
eruptions. usually in the gas state, in the
• It can also be transported by the form of water vapour but
ocean and to atmosphere, land and condenses to liquid water and
back to the oceans through its is able to solid when
compounds such as sulphur dioxide,
sulphuric acid, salts of sulphate or
temperatures are 0o C to form
organic sulphur by rainfall and rivers. ice.
 THE IMPORTANCE OF NUTRIENT
CYCLES
Transformation of matter from one form to another.
• Nutrient cycles allows the transformation of matter to different specific
forms that enables the utilisation of that element in different organisms.
[For example, although nitrogen is abundant in the atmosphere, plants can
only take up nitrogen in two solid forms, namely ammonium and nitrate.
Without the transformation of nitrogen into these forms, plant growth
would be limited.]
• Therefore, nutrient cycles enable the provision of elements to organisms
in forms that are usable to them.
Transfer of elements from one location to another.
• Nutrient cycles allows the transfer of elements from one
location to another.
• Some elements are highly concentrated in an areas that are
inaccessible to most living organisms, such as nitrogen in the
atmosphere.
• Nutrient cycles allow these elements to be transferred to
more accessible locations such as the soil [for the case of
nitrogen].
Functioning of ecosystems.
• Nutrient cycles assists the functioning of ecosystems
[which humans are part of].
• The ecosystem which requires the state of equilibrium
to function properly, restore to the equilibrium state
through the nutrient cycles.
Storage of elements.
• Nutrient cycles facilitate the storage of elements.
Elements that are carried through the nutrient cycles
are stored in their natural reservoirs and are released
to organisms in small amounts that are consumable.
[For example, through the nitrogen cycle, plants are
able to use nitrogen in small suitable amounts even
though it is abundant in the atmosphere.]
Link organisms, both living and non-living.
• Nutrient cycles link living organisms with living organisms,
living organisms with the non-living organisms and non-living
organisms with non-living organisms.
• This is essential because all organisms depend on one
another and is vital for the survival of living organisms.
• These organisms are linked by the flow of nutrients which is
engineered by the nutrient cycles.
Regulate the flow of substances.
• Nutrient cycles regulate the flow of substances. As the
nutrient cycles pass through different spheres [biosphere,
lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere], the flow of
elements is regulated as each sphere has a particular
medium and rate at which the flow of elements is
determined by the viscosity and density of the medium.
• Therefore, the elements in the nutrient cycles flow at
different rates within the cycle and this regulates the flow of
elements in those cycles.