Nutrient Cycles

How are nutrients recycled through ecosystems? through the biogeochemical

cycles
Why? because atoms are recycled, not gained nor lost
We have learned the importance of recycling our trash. It allows us to use something again for another
purpose and prevents the loss of natural resources. But what happens to the waste in nature? Why aren’t
we up to our necks in natural refuse? Why is there always a supply of water? Why is there oxygen to
breathe and carbon dioxide for photosynthesis? Organic compounds in nature are also recycled. This
recycling process converts the complex organic compounds to simple, inorganic compounds, which
then can be returned to nature to be used again and again.

Model 1 – The Water Cycle

 
  1. Model 1 illustrates how nature recycles what natural resource? water

  2. Model 1 illustrates four major areas of water storage on Earth. Complete the list of these storage
areas below.
Atmosphere, surface water, ____________________,
groundwater and ____________________.
living things
  3. Where is groundwater stored? in aquifers (underground water reservoirs)

Nutrient Cycles 1
   4. Name two processes in Model 1 in which water is converted to vapor. evaporation, transpiration

  5. Describe two methods by which water on land (in lakes and rivers) returns to the oceans.
water runoff, percolation
  6. Rain, sleet, and snow are examples of what?
precipitation
  7. If the air contains high levels of pollutants, what effect might this have on water quality?
It will lower the water quality, making it useless to living things.

  8. Which process(es) of the water cycle—precipitation, evaporation, condensation, runoff,

percolation or transpiration—might contribute to the addition of pollutants to rivers, lakes, and
oceans? Why? They concentrate chemicals long their path

Precipitation - acid rain
evaporation - concentrates pollutants left behind
runoff - water that comes down the mountain will carry debris and pollutants to aquifers,
rivers, oceans
  9. Which of the processes associated with the water cycle might be responsible for helping to clean
or filter the water?

percolation: water gets filtered by soil

10. The water cycle is a closed system, meaning no water enters from beyond the system nor leaves
the system. What does that say about the importance of keeping the water on Earth free from
pollution?

The water we have is all the water we have. If we don't clean it, the water we have will stay
polluted.
Polluted water is useless to us living things.

2 POGIL™ Activities for High School Biology

Model 2 – The Carbon Cycle
D PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Atmospheric
CO2

C
B Re
sp
ira
tio
n
Respiration
Respiration

A Wastes Feedi
Combustion

ng

Death

Auto and
factory
emissions Decay
(by decomposing fungi, bacteria, and worms) on
ati
m
For
u el
silF
F os

Carbon Sink
(coal, oil, peat, natural gas)

11. Model 2 illustrates how nature recycles what natural resource?

CARBON

12. Name two ways that carbon (usually in the form of CO2) enters the atmosphere.
ANIMAL, PLANT RESPIRATION
13. Process D on the diagram uses CO2 from the atmosphere. PHOTOSYNTHESIS
a. Label D on the diagram in Model 2 with the name of this process.
b. What organisms carry out the process identified in part a? DECOMPOSERS

14. Wastes and dead organisms must be broken down in order for their components to be used
again.
a. What organisms in the cycle carry out this process?
DECOMPOSERS
b.  What would happen if decomposition did not occur?
DISEASE AND INFESTATION WOULD SPREAD

Nutrient Cycles 3
 15. Not all dead organisms are acted on by decomposers. Instead of being immediately recycled, the
carbon from some organisms is kept in a type of long-term storage, or carbon sink. Using Model
2, answer the questions below about this long-term storage.
a. List four materials that contain this stored carbon.
oil, peat, coal, natural gas
b. What is the collective term for these four materials?
fossil fuels
c. How do humans use the materials in the carbon sink?
for combustion to generate energy and move machines
d. What is the scientific name for the process listed in part c?
cellular respiration
16. List five examples of combustion in your everyday life.

car ignition, forest fires, bonfire, turning on natural gas in stove to cook, lighting a match

17. How is the majority of electricity generated in the area where you live? Does the process involve
the combustion of coal? Check with your teacher if you are not sure.

hydroelectric power from lakes and dams from Alabama and Georgia

18. Many of the carbon-based fuels are categorized as fossil fuels because they formed from decayed
organisms over millions of years. List as many examples of fossil fuels as you can.
coal, natural gas, gasoline, diesel, machine lubricant oils, peat, petroleum derivatives

19. How does our use of these carbon stores affect the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere?

The combustion of fossil fuels frees carbon in the atmosphere increasing the
amount of CO2 and CO in the air (greenhouse effect)

Read This!
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the so-called greenhouse gases. These gases hold heat energy in the
atmosphere, which raises the overall temperature of the Earth. This helps maintain the Earth’s biosphere,
but also has led to environmental concerns. The more CO2 in the atmosphere, the higher the Earth’s
average temperature will be.
20. What is another way in which human activity is increasing the amount of atmospheric CO2, and
what are potential global effects of these changes in CO2 levels?

DEFORESTATION: By cutting down trees, which remove C from the atmosphere during
photosynthesis, we are contributing to the increase in levels of CO2 in the air. This in turns
contributes to the greenhouse effect. (global warming)

4 POGIL™ Activities for High School Biology

Model 3 – The Nitrogen Cycle
Denitrification by
denitrifying baceria
Further nitrification by
nitrifying baceria Atmospheric
Nitrates Nitrates Nitrogen
Nitrites in soil (N2)
Absorption by
roots of non-

Nitrogen fixation
legume plants
Feeding
nitrifying baceria
Nitrification by

Death
Wa
stes

Lightning

ath

Nitrogen fixation
De
N-fixing bacteria
on
inati (Found in root nodules
am Decomposition of legumes)
De (by fungi, bacteria, and worms)

Ammonia and other N-fixing bacteria

N-containing
compounds in soil

21. Model 3 illustrates how nature recycles what natural resource?

NITROGEN

22. Name three types of bacteria involved in the nitrogen cycle.

NITRIFYING BACTERIA, DENITRIFYING BACTERIA, N-FIXING BACTERIA

Read This!
Nitrification is a process by which specific bacteria convert different forms of N-containing compounds
(like ammonia, NH3) in the soil to nitrites (NO2) and nitrates (NO3). This process is important since the
only forms of nitrogen that are usable by plants to build their proteins are the nitrates.
23. In what ways is N2 gas removed from the atmosphere?
LIGHTNING AND NITRIFYING BACTERIA

24. By what process are animal wastes and dead organisms converted to other nitrogen-containing
compounds?
DECOMPOSITION

Nutrient Cycles 5
 25. What is the only form of nitrogen that nonlegume plants can take in and use?
NITRATES IN SOIL

26. What do the denitrifying bacteria do during the denitrifying process?
THEY CONVERT NITRATES IN SOIL INTO ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN (N2)

27. If the number of nitrifying bacteria decreased, what effect would this have on the nitrogen cycle
and what type of compounds would accumulate as a result?
AMONIA WOULD ACCUMULATE ON THE SOIL, WHICH WOULD HAVE LOW LEVELS OF NITRATES AVAILABLE
FOR LIVING THINGS.

6 POGIL™ Activities for High School Biology

Extension Questions
28. Plants and animals are part of all of the nutrient cycles through the foods they eat and what eats
them (food chains and food webs). Name the four classes of organic compounds (containing
carbon) and explain how the carbon cycle and nitrogen cycle contribute to the usable supplies of
these macromolecules.
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS:
FATS (LIPIDS), SUGARS (CARBOHYDRATES), NUCLEIC ACIDS (DNA AND RNA), PROTEINS

PROTEINS AND NUCLEIC ACIDS BOTH CONTAIN NITROGEN IN THEIR MOLECULAR COMPOSITION. IF WE ARE
NOT ABLE TO CONSUME NITRATES IN FOOD, WE'LL BE DEFICIENT IN THOSE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS.

29. In order to continually use the same area of land for agriculture, some farmers apply fertilizers to
improve the level of nitrates in the soil. An alternative to this intensive use of fertilizer is to plow
the roots of the leguminous plants back into the soil and leave the area unplanted for a season.
Why would a farmer use this alternative method and what would be the benefit of turning over
the soil and leaving the old plant roots?
BECAUSE THE ROOTS OF LEGUMINOUS PLANTS SUCH AS BEANS, SOYBEANS AND PEANUTS
CONTAIN NITRIFYING BACTERIA, WHICH FIX ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN (N2) INTO THE SOIL AND MAKES
IT AVAILABLE FOR PLANTS TO GROW AND CONSUMERS TO EAT.

Nutrient Cycles 7