Cycles

BIOGEOCHEMICAL
CYCLES
GRADE 9
OBJECTIVES
• Summarize the steps of the water cycle in a

diagram.
• Explain how carbon is cycled through an
ecosystem.
• Describe why nitrogen must cycle through an
ecosystem.
• Summarize the 3 major conversions of nitrogen in
ecosystems.
VOCABULARY
• Carbon Cycle
• Respiration
• Nitrogen cycle
NUTRIENT CYCLES: OBJECTIVES
• Summarize the steps of the water cycle in a diagram.
• Explain how carbon is cycled through an ecosystem in
the carbon cycle.
• Define the steps in the nitrogen cycle.
• Summarize the 3 major conversions of nitrogen in the
nitrogen cycle.
• Be able to define the steps and know how one step
impacts the other.
• Be able to predict the outcome if one step of a cycle is
manipulated (products are removed or skipped).
CYCLES
• Just as organisms are interconnected to each other

they are connected to the physical environment as
well.
• Name several examples of non-living things that
organisms, such as yourself, require to live.
• Oxygen, water, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus
are a few examples of these that we will discuss in
this section.
• Not what roles they play though.
• You will learn how these substances cycle through
the ecosystems so that they may maintain their
availability to living organisms.
CYCLES IN NATURE
• Biogeochemical cycles = Cycles in which

water and minerals are recycled and reused
by moving from the non-living portion of the
environment into living things and back
again.
• Water Cycle
• Carbon Cycle
• Nitrogen Cycle
WATER CYCLE
• The water cycle continuously moves water between

the atmosphere, the land, and the oceans.
• We see it first hand in several forms.
• Rain falls and is soaked up by the ground, or it pools

where it’s drank, or it is absorbed by plants, or it will
sit and evaporate back up into the atmosphere.
• Since it’s a cycle there is no starting point.
• We’ll start with water forming in the atmosphere.

IN THE MARGIN OF YOUR NOTES, IDENTIFY THE STEPS NUMBERED 1-6.
Condensati
on
CONDENSATION
• First, water vapor condenses in the cool air of the

sky into the clouds we see.
• Even if there’s no clouds there is still plenty of water
there.
At any moment, the atmosphere contains an astounding 37.5 million
billion gallons of water, in the invisible vapor phase. This is enough
water to cover the entire surface of the Earth (land and ocean) with
one inch of rain.
http://whyfiles.org/2010/how-much-water-is-in-the-atmosphere/
PRECIPITATION
• When enough water accumulates in the

atmosphere it collects a water droplets, gets heavy,
and falls back to Earth.
• This, what we call rain, is also known as
precipitation.
RUN OFF & PERCOLATION
Some of this
• Other water,
water
called runoff,
percolates,
flows and
or is
accumulates
absorbed or
across the
soaked into
surface of Earth
the soil and
and runs into
becomes
rivers, lakes, and
groundwater
oceans.
.
TRANSPIRATION & EVAPORATION
• Once here if not consumed, the water is heated

by the sun and reenters the atmosphere as
water vapor by evaporation.
• Water also evaporates from trees and plants in
a process called transpiration (& animals in
perspiration…sweating).
IN THE MARGIN OF YOUR NOTES, IDENTIFY THE STEPS NUMBERED 1-6.
1
Condensation
2
3
6
4 4
5
NITROGEN CYCLE
• Nitrogen, another essential element, must also be cycled.
• The atmosphere is about 78% nitrogen gas, N2. But most
organisms cannot use nitrogen gas.
• The nitrogen cycle is all about getting the nitrogen in the

atmosphere into forms that can be used by organisms.
• Recall, Nitrogen is used for

• The amino acids of proteins.
• In the nitrogenous bases of DNA & RNA
• The nitrogen cycle is the process in which nitrogen

circulates among the air, soil, water, and organisms in an
ecosystem.
NITROGEN CYCLE
How atmospheric
nitrogen gets into
the soil so it can
be accessed by
• In a process called nitrogen fixation, living things.
bacteria convert nitrogen gas, N2,
into ammonia, NH3.
• N2 🡪 Nitrogen Fixation (Bacteria) 🡪 NH3
• Nitrogen-fixing bacteria
live in the soil and on the
roots of some plants.
NITROGEN CYCLE
• During
ammonification, How atmospheric
nitrogen gets into
nitrogen from the soil so it can
animal waste or be accessed by
living things.
decaying bodies
is returned to the
soil as ammonia
by bacteria and
decomposers.
NITROGEN CYCLE
• During nitrification,
ammonia, NH3, is
converted to nitrite
and then nitrate
NO3.
• Try not to confuse
this with nitrogen
fixation.
NITROGEN CYCLE
• Assimilation is the
Forms of process in which plants
nitrogen that
can be
absorb nitrogen. When
accessed by an animal eats a plant,
living things
nitrogen compounds
become part of the
animal’s body.
NITROGEN CYCLE
• During denitrification,
nitrate, NO3, is changed to
nitrogen gas, N2, which
returns to the atmosphere.
NITROGEN CYCLE: ON YOUR HANDOUTS,
LABEL THE PARTS OF THE CYCLE.
NITROGEN CYCLE
NITROGEN CYCLE: MACRO PERSPECTIVE
Assimilation
Ammonification
Nitrogen fixation Denitrification
Nitrification
CARBON AND OXYGEN CYCLES
• Carbon and oxygen are critical for life on Earth, and

their cycles are tied closely together.
• Just as with water, these are both cycled so
organisms always have a supply available.
• The carbon cycle is the continuous movement of
carbon from the nonliving environment into living
things and back.
THE CARBON CYCLE
• Starting with atmospheric carbon

dioxide, the carbon cycle begins
with plants and other autotrophs
absorbing CO2 and converting
into usable sugars and starches.
• This process is known as
photosynthesis.
THE CARBON CYCLE
• Animals then eat this

vegetation.
• They break down the
sugars & starches
made by plants and
covert it into ATP, the
energy of
metabolism.
• In the process, they
release CO2 back
into the atmosphere.
• This process is called
cellular respiration.
THE CARBON CYCLE
• All life, plants, animals & everything else, eventually

dies.
• When it does it is broken down , decays, and collects
as fossil fuels.
• Fossil fuels, like oil
and gasoline,
accumulate after
millions of years of
this process of
death and decay.
THE CARBON CYCLE
• The burning of this fuel,

called combustion, also
releases carbon dioxide
back into the
atmosphere.
THE CARBON CYCLE: ON YOUR HANDOUTS,
LABEL THE PARTS OF THE CYCLE.
THE CARBON CYCLE
THE
CARBON
CYCLE
Man also plays
a role.
We are
responsible for
burning fossil
fuels, eating,
releasing COMBUSTION
carbon
dioxide, and
dying.
These all
contribute to
the cycling of
carbon.
THE END

Cycles

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BIOGEOCHEMICAL

• Summarize the steps of the water cycle in a

• Just as organisms are interconnected to each other

• Biogeochemical cycles = Cycles in which

• The water cycle continuously moves water between

• We see it first hand in several forms.

• Rain falls and is soaked up by the ground, or it pools

• We’ll start with water forming in the atmosphere.

• First, water vapor condenses in the cool air of the

• When enough water accumulates in the

• Once here if not consumed, the water is heated

• The nitrogen cycle is all about getting the nitrogen in the

• Recall, Nitrogen is used for

• The nitrogen cycle is the process in which nitrogen

• N2 🡪 Nitrogen Fixation (Bacteria) 🡪 NH3

Nitrogen fixation Denitrification

• Carbon and oxygen are critical for life on Earth, and

• Starting with atmospheric carbon

• Animals then eat this

• All life, plants, animals & everything else, eventually

• The burning of this fuel,

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