ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS: CYCLES AND

FLOWS
Course Unit: Environmental Health
Program: B. Community Health
Lecturer: Talemwa Rogers
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Interconnectedness of the ecosystem
 Nutrients circulate through ecosystems

 Main components of a biogeochemical cycle

 What sustains life on earth

 The water/hydrologic cycle

 The carbon cycle

 The nitrogen cycle

 The phosphorous cycle

 Compare and contrast these cycles

 Conclusion
INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF THE ECOSYSTEM
 All the functions of the ecosystem are in some way related to the growth and regeneration
of its plant and animal species.
 These linked processes can be depicted as the various cycles. These processes depend on
energy from sunlight.
 During photosynthesis carbon dioxide is taken up by plants and oxygen is released.

 Animals depend on this oxygen for their respiration.

 The water cycle depends on the rainfall, which is necessary for plants and animals to live.

 The energy cycle recycles nutrients into the soil on which plant life grows.

 Our own lives are closely linked to the proper functioning of these cycles of life.

 If human activities go on altering them, humanity cannot survive on our earth.

NUTRIENTS CIRCULATE THROUGH ECOSYSTEMS
 Every ecosystem has several interrelated mechanisms that affect human life. These are the
water cycle, the carbon cycle, the oxygen cycle, the nitrogen cycle and the energy cycle.
Matter is continually circulated in ecosystems
 Nutrient Cycles: Global Recycling
 Global Cycles called biogeochemical cycles, are cycling of nutrients from the abiotic reservoirs to
biotic reservoirs.
 While every ecosystem is controlled by these cycles, in each ecosystem its abiotic and biotic
features are distinct from each other.
 Nutrients are the elements and compounds that organisms need to live, grow, and reproduce. We can
distinguish two basic types of nutrients:
 Inorganic chemicals that autotrophic organisms require for photosynthesis and metabolism,
 Organic compounds ingested as food by heterotrophic organisms.
 Biogeochemical cycles move all nutrients through air, water, soil, rock and living organisms over
millions of years.
CONT…
 Nutrient (biogeochemical) cycles = the movement of nutrients through ecosystems
 Atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere
 Pools (reservoirs) = where nutrients reside for varying amounts of time (the residence time)
 Flux = the rate at which materials move between pools
 Can change over time
 Is influenced by human activities

Abiotic – nonliving cycles like rock cycle, water cycle and other
chemical cycles.
Biotic – living organism involved cycles like carbon and nitrogen cycle.
All cycles enable a specific chemical element or nutrient to be taken
and reused through various forms.
 MAIN COMPONENTS OF A BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE

• Source = a pool that releases more nutrients than it accepts

• Sinks = a pool that accepts more nutrients than it releases
MAIN COMPONENTS OF A BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE
WHAT SUSTAINS LIFE ON EARTH?
 Solar energy, the cycling of matter, and gravity sustain the earth’s life. (image 1)
 An ecosystem survives by a combination of energy flow and matter recycling. (image 2)
THE WATER/HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
 Water is essential for biochemical reactions
 It is involved in nearly every environmental system
 Hydrologic cycle = summarizes how liquid, gaseous and solid water flows
through the environment
 Oceans are the main reservoir
 Evaporation = water moves from aquatic and land systems into the atmosphere
 Transpiration = release of water vapor by plants

 Precipitation, runoff, and surface water = water returns to Earth as rain or snow
and flows into streams, oceans, etc.
GROUND WATER
 Aquifers = underground reservoirs of sponge-like regions of rock and soil that
hold…
 Groundwater = water found underground beneath layers of soil
 Water table = the upper limit of groundwater in an aquifer
 Water may be ancient (thousands of years old)
 Groundwater becomes exposed to the air where the water table reaches the
surface
 Exposed water runs off to the ocean or evaporates
WATER CYCLE
 When it rains, the water runs along the ground and flows into rivers or falls directly into the sea. A
part of the rainwater that falls on land percolates into the ground. This is stored underground
throughout the rest of the year.

 Water is drawn up from the ground by plants along with the nutrients from the soil. The water is
transpired from the leaves as water vapour and returned to the atmosphere.

 As it is lighter than air, water vapour rises and forms clouds. Winds blow the clouds for long
distances and when the clouds rise higher, the vapour condenses and changes into droplets, which
fall on the land as rain.

 Though this is an endless cycle on which life depends, man’s activities are making drastic changes in
the atmosphere through pollution which is altering rainfall patterns.
THE WATER CYCLE
EFFECTS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY ON WATER CYCLE
 We alter the water cycle by:
 Withdrawing large amounts of freshwater from the ground causing salt water to
contaminate reservoir.
 Withdrawing large amounts from rivers and streams changes flow of nutrients
 Clearing vegetation causes eroding soils that clogs streams.
 Polluting surface and underground water.
 All of this contributes to climate change
 We have dammed rivers and created reservoirs, increasing evaporation.
 Atmospheric pollutants have changed the chemical nature of precipitation.
 Irrigation, industry, and other human uses have depleted aquifers and increased
evaporation, leading to water shortages in some parts of the world.
THE CARBON CYCLE
 The carbon, which occurs in organic compounds, is included in both the abiotic and biotic parts of
the ecosystem.
 Carbon is one of the basic building blocks of life and the most abundant element in organisms,
accounting for about half of typical dry biomass.
 Carbon is a building block of both plant and animal tissues. In the atmosphere, carbon occurs as
carbon dioxide (CO2 ).
 In the presence of sunlight, plants take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through their leaves.
The plants combine carbon dioxide with water, which is absorbed by their roots from the soil.
 Plants also absorb this gas through tiny pores (called stomata) in their foliage, fix it into simple
sugars, and then use the fixed energy to support their respiration and to achieve growth and
reproduction.
 In the presence of sunlight they are able to form carbohydrates that contain carbon. This process is
known as photosynthesis.
CONT…
 Plants use this complex mechanism for their growth and development. In this process, plants
release oxygen into the atmosphere on which animals depend for their respiration.
 Plants therefore help in regulating and monitoring the percentage of Oxygen and Carbon
dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere.
 All of mankind thus depends on the oxygen generated through this cycle. It also keeps the
CO2 at acceptable levels.
 Herbivorous animals feed on plant material for energy and growth.

 Both plants and animals release carbon dioxide during respiration.

 They also return fixed carbon to the soil in the waste they excrete. When plants and animals
die they return their carbon to the soil.
 These processes complete the carbon cycle.
CARBON POOLS (RESERVOIRS)
 Sedimentary rocks are the largest reservoirs of carbon which include fossil fuels.
 The deep oceans are the second largest reservoir of carbon with dissolved
inorganic carbon and sediments Aquatic organisms die and settle in the sediment
 Olderlayers are buried deeply and undergo high pressure
 Ultimately, it may be converted into fossil fuels

 Organic molecules – in living and dead organisms (e.g plants).

 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in atmosphere.

 Organic matter in soil.

 Calcium carbonate in the shells of marine organisms.

CARBON CYCLE
We alter the carbon
cycle by adding
excess CO2 to the
atmosphere through:
1. Burning fossil
fuels.

2. Clearing
vegetation faster
than it is replaced.
EFFECTS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY ON THE CARBON
CYCLE
 We are shifting carbon from the lithosphere to the atmosphere.
 As we mine fossil fuel deposits and cut or burn vegetation, we remove carbon
from reservoirs and increase the net flux into the atmosphere.
 This ongoing flux of carbon into the atmosphere is a major force behind global
climate change.
 Atmospheric scientists remain baffled by the ―missing carbon sink,‖ the roughly
1–2 billion metric tons of carbon unaccounted for (out of approximately 7) that
should be in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel combustion and deforestation.
THE NITROGEN CYCLE
 Nitrogen is the second largest nutrient cycle on the planet, second only to carbon.
 This makes the atmosphere the major reservoir for nitrogen.

 Nitrogen comprises 78% of our atmosphere

 It is contained in proteins, DNA and RNA
 Nitrogen cycle = describes the routes that nitrogen atoms take through the environment
 Nitrogen gas cannot be used by organisms
 Nitrogen fixation = lightning or nitrogen-fixing bacteria combine (fix) nitrogen with hydrogen
 Toform ammonium
 Which can be used
by plants
 Nitrogen is frequently a limiting factor for producers and therefore limits populations of
consumers, including humans.
NITRIFICATION AND DENITRIFICATION
 Nitrification = bacteria convert ammonium ions first into nitrite ions then into
nitrate ions
 Plants can take up these ions
 Animals obtain nitrogen by eating plants or other animals
 Decomposers get it from dead and decaying plants or other animals
 Releasing ammonium ions to nitrifying bacteria
 Denitrifying bacteria = convert nitrates in soil or water to gaseous nitrogen
 Releasing it back into the atmosphere
NITROGEN CYCLE
EFFECTS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY ON THE NITROGEN
CYCLE
 Nitrogen fixation has historically been a bottleneck, limiting the flux of nitrogen out of the
atmospheric reservoir.
 The Haber-Bosch process allows humans to synthesize ammonia, accelerating its flux into
other reservoirs within the cycle.
 Burning forests, fields, and fossil fuels all increase the amount of atmospheric nitrogen, as
does bacterial decomposition of animal wastes from feedlots.
 Adding gases to atmosphere that contribute to acid rain.

 Adding nitrous oxide to the atmosphere through farming practices which can warm the
atmosphere and deplete ozone.
 Contaminating ground water from nitrate ions in inorganic fertilizers.

 Strategies to limit the amount of damage caused by excess nutrients in the waterways are not
successful at this time.
PHOSPHOROUS CYCLE
• The phosphorus cycle involves mainly lithosphere and ocean.
• The element phosphorus is a key component of DNA, RNA, ATP, and cell membranes. It
describes the routes that phosphorus atoms take through the environment
• Phosphorus is primarily found in rocks, soil, sediments, and oceans; the weathering of
rocks releases phosphates into water at a very low rate of flux.
• The phosphorus cycle has no appreciable or significant atmospheric component.
• Concentrations of available phosphorus in the environment are very low; this is often a
limiting factor for producers such plant growth.
THE PHOSPHOROUS CYCLE
EFFECTS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY ON THE
PHOSPHOROUS CYCLE
 We mine rocks for phosphorus to make fertilizers thus reducing it.
 Our sewage discharge and agricultural runoff are high in phosphates.

 Wastewater discharge for example from detergents that contain phosphate also
releases phosphorus.
 These additions of phosphorus can cause rapid increases of biomass in soil and
eutrophication, leading to murkier waters and altering the structure and function
of aquatic ecosystems.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST HOW CARBON, PHOSPHORUS,
NITROGEN, AND WATER CYCLE THROUGH THE ENVIRONMENT.
 A source is a reservoir that contributes more of a material than it receives, and a sink
is one that receives more than it provides.
 Water moves widely through the environment in the water (hydrological) cycle.
 Most carbon is contained in sedimentary rock. Substantial amounts also occur in the
oceans and in soil. Carbon flux between organisms and the atmosphere occurs via
photosynthesis and respiration.
 Nitrogen in a vital nutrient for plant growth. Most nitrogen is in the atmosphere, so
it must be “fixed” by specialized bacteria or lightning before plants can use it.
 Phosphorus is most abundant in sedimentary rock, with substantial amounts in soil
and the oceans. Phosphorus has no appreciable atmospheric pool. It is a key nutrient
for plant growth.
CONCLUSION
A. A systems approach to understanding Earth’s dynamics is important in helping
us avoid disrupting its processes. Integrating systems perspectives with
scientific findings allows us to address issues like the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic
zone.
B. Knowledge of the ways in which biotic and abiotic systems interact, and how
energy and mass flow through the systems, is essential. An understanding of
biogeochemical cycles that describe the movement of nutrients within and
among ecosystems is also crucial because human activities are causing
significant changes in these cycles.
C. Natural ecosystems use renewable solar energy, recycle nutrients, and are
stabilized by negative feedback loops. We should take a careful look at these
systems that have withstood the test of time as models of sustainability
REFERENCES
 https://
sites.google.com/a/wis.edu.hk/ess/topics/topic-2-ecosystems-ecology/2-3-flows-o
f-energy-and-matter
 https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/environmentalscience/chapter/chapter-5-f
lows-and-cycles-of-nutrients
/
 https://
www.bisd303.org/cms/lib/WA01001636/Centricity/Domain/614/Ch05-Reading%
20Guide-Answers.pdf
 E. Bharucha. Environmental studies for undergraduate cources. (Textbook)