Biogeochemical Cycle: Ecology Earth Science Chemical Element Molecule Ecosystem

Biogeochemical cycle
In ecology and Earth science, a biogeochemical cycle is a circuit or

pathway by which a chemical element or molecule moves through both
biotic ("bio-") and abiotic ("geo-") compartments of an ecosystem. In
effect, the element is recycled, although in some such cycles there may
be places (called "sinks") where the element is accumulated or held for a
long period of time.
All chemical elements occurring in organisms are part of

biogeochemical cycles. In addition to being a part of living organisms,
these chemical elements also cycle through abiotic factors of ecosystems
such as water (hydrosphere), land (lithosphere), and the air
(atmosphere); the living factors of the planet can be referred to
collectively as the biosphere. All the chemicals, nutrients, or elements —
such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus — used in ecosystems by
living organisms operate on a closed system, which refers to the fact
that these chemicals are recycled instead of being lost and replenished
constantly such as in an open system. The energy of an ecosystem
occurs on an open system; the sun constantly gives the planet energy in
the form of light while it is eventually used and lost in the form of heat
throughout the trophic levels of a food web.
The Earth does not constantly receive more chemicals as it receives

light; it has only those from which it formed, and the only way to obtain
more chemicals or nutrients is from occasional meteorites from outer
space. Because chemicals operate on a closed system and cannot be lost
and replenished like energy can, these chemicals must be recycled
throughout all of Earth’s processes that use those chemicals or elements.
These cycles include both the living biosphere, and the nonliving
lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. The term "biogeochemical"
takes its prefixes from these cycles: Bio refers to the biosphere. Geo
refers collectively to the lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere.
Chemical, of course, refers to the chemicals that go through the cycle.
The chemicals are sometimes held for long periods of time in one place.
This place is called a reservoir, which, for example, includes such
things as coal deposits that are storing carbon for a long period of time.
When chemicals are held for only short periods of time, they are being
held in exchange pools. Generally, reservoirs are abiotic factors while
exchange pools are biotic factors. Examples of exchange pools include
plants and animals, which temporarily use carbon in their systems and
release it back into the air or surrounding medium. Carbon is held for a
relatively short time in plants and animals when compared to coal
deposits. The amount of time that a chemical is held in one place is
called its residence.
The most well-known and important biogeochemical cycles, for

example, include the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the oxygen cycle,
the phosphorus cycle, and the water cycle.
Biogeochemical cycles always involve equilibrium states: a balance in

the cycling of the element between compartments. However, overall
balance may involve compartments distributed on a global scale.
Biogeochemical cycles of particular interest in ecology are:
 nitrogen cycle
 oxygen cycle
 carbon cycle
 phosphorus cycle
 sulfur cycle
 water cycle
 hydrogen cycle
Nitrogen cycle
Schematic representation of the flow of nitrogen through the

environment.
Main article: Nitrogen cycle
The nitrogen cycle is a much more complicated biogeochemical cycle

but also cycles through living parts and nonliving parts including the
water, land, and air. Nitrogen is a very important element in that it is part
of both proteins, present in the composition of the amino acids that make
up proteins, as well as nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA, present in
nitrogenous bases. The largest reservoir of nitrogen is the atmosphere, in
which about 78% of nitrogen is contained as nitrogen gas (N2). Nitrogen
gas is “fixed,” in a process called nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen fixation
combines nitrogen with oxygen to create nitrates (NO3).
Nitrates can then be used by plants or animals (which eat plants or eat
animals that have eaten plants). Nitrogen can be fixed either by
lightning, industrial methods (such as for fertilizer), in free nitrogen-
fixing bacteria in the soil, as well as in nitrogen-fixing bacteria present
in roots of legumes (such as rhizobium). Nitrogen-fixing bacteria use
certain enzymes that are capable of fixing nitrogen gas into nitrates and
include free bacteria in soil, symbiotic bacteria in legumes, and also
cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, in water.
After being used by plants and animals, nitrogen is then disposed of in

decay and wastes. Detritivores and decomposers decompose the detritius
from plants and animals, nitrogen is changed into ammonia, or nitrogen
with 3 hydrogen atoms (NH3). Ammonia is toxic and cannot be used by
plants or animals, but nitrite bacteria present in the soil can take
ammonia and turn it into nitrite, nitrogen with two oxygen atoms (NO2).
Although nitrite is also unusable by most plants and animals, nitrate
bacteria changes nitrites back into nitrates, usable by plants and animals.
Some nitrates are also converted back into nitrogen gas through the
process of denitrification, which is the opposite of nitrogen-fixing, also
called nitrification. Certain denitrifying bacteria are NOT responsible for
this.

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Biogeochemical cycle

In ecology and Earth science, a biogeochemical cycle is a circuit or

All chemical elements occurring in organisms are part of

The Earth does not constantly receive more chemicals as it receives

The most well-known and important biogeochemical cycles, for

Biogeochemical cycles always involve equilibrium states: a balance in

Biogeochemical cycles of particular interest in ecology are:

Schematic representation of the flow of nitrogen through the

The nitrogen cycle is a much more complicated biogeochemical cycle

After being used by plants and animals, nitrogen is then disposed of in

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