05: Biogeochemical Cycle Flashcards
____ flows through an ecosystem and is dissipated as heat, but ____ are recycled.
Energy, Chemical Elements
The ways in which an element—or compound such as water—moves between its various living and nonliving forms and locations in the biosphere is called as ____
(A) Biogeochemical Cycle
Biogeochemical cycles important to living organisms include (enumerate the cycles)
Water Cycle
Carbon Cycle
Nitrogen Cycle
Phosphorus Cycle
Sulfur Cycle
This is the pathway by which a chemical substance cycles the biotic and the abiotic compartments of Earth.
A Biogeochemical Cycle
The biotic compartment is the ____ and the abiotic compartments are the ____.
Biosphere
Atmosphere, Hydrosphere and Lithosphere.
____ flows, but ____ is recycled.
Energy, Matter
The six most common elements in organic molecules that take a variety of chemical forms.
Carbon
Nitrogen
Hydrogen
Oxygen
Phosphorus
Sulfur
The set of places where water can be found as it cycles on Earth—is large and diverse.
The Hydrosphere
This is present as a liquid on the Earth’s surface and underneath the ground, as ice in the polar ice caps and glaciers, and as a vapor in the atmosphere.
Water
Water makes up more than half of our bodies
This is found in all organic macromolecules and is also a key component of fossil fuels.
Carbon
This is needed for our DNA, RNA, Proteins and is critical to agriculture.
Nitrogen
This is a key component DNA, and RNA and is one of the main ingredients. Along with Nitrogen is in artificial fertilizers used in agriculture.
Phosphorus
This is key to protein structure and is released to the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels.
Sulfur
In percentage, how much water is our body made of?
Over 70%
Of the water on Earth, ____ is salt water. Of the remaining water, over ____ is in the form of underground water or ice. All told, less than ___ of fresh water is found in lakes, rivers, and other available surface forms.
97.5%
99% (3.465%)
1% (0.035%)
This cycle is driven by the Sun’s energy. The sun warms the ocean surface and other surface water, causing liquid water to evaporate and ice to sublime—turn directly from a solid to a gas. These sun-driven processes move water into the atmosphere in the form of water vapor.
Water Cycle
Over time, water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into clouds and eventually falls as ____, rain or snow. When precipitation reaches Earth’s surface, it has a few options: it may evaporate again, flow over the surface, or ____—sink down—into the ground.
Precipitation, Percolate
In general, water moves along the surface as ___ only when the soil is saturated with water, when rain is falling very hard, or when the surface can’t absorb much water.
Runoff
In this process, water enters through the roots, travels upwards through vascular tubes made out of dead cells, and evaporates through pores called stomata found in the leaves.
Transpiration
This is water found in the pores between particles in sand and gravel or in the cracks in rocks, and it’s an important reservoir of freshwater.
Groundwater
This flows slowly through pores and fissures and may eventually find its way to a stream or lake, where it can become part of the surface water again.
Shallow groundwater
These are usually the source of drinking or
irrigation water drawn up through wells.
Groundwater Reservoirs (or Aquifers)
This is an essential element in the bodies of living organisms. It is also economically important to modern humans, in the form of fossil fuels.
Carbon
___ from the atmosphere is taken up by photosynthetic organisms and used to make organic molecules, which travel through food chains. In the end, the carbon atoms are released as ____ in respiration.
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
The carbon cycle is most easily studied as two interconnected sub cycles: One dealing with ____ among living organisms One dealing with ____ through geologic processes.
Rapid Carbon Exchange
Long-Term Cycling of Carbon
To release the energy stored in carbon-containing molecules, such as sugars, autotrophs and heterotrophs break these molecules down in a process called ____.
Cellular Respiration
In this process, the carbons of the molecule are released as carbon dioxide.
Cellular Respiration
These organisms also release organic compounds and carbon dioxide when they break down dead organisms and waste products.
Decomposers
This is a key component of the bodies of living organisms. These atoms are found in all proteins and DNA.
Nitrogen
Nitrogen exists in the atmosphere as __ gas.
N2 (Dinitrogen)
In this process, bacteria convert N2 into ammonia, a form of nitrogen usable by plants. When animals eat the plants, they acquire usable nitrogen compounds.
Nitrogen Fixation
This is the nutrient that’s in shortest supply and limits growth.
Limiting Nutrientnm
Nitrogen is a common limiting nutrient in nature, and agriculture.
When fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus are carried in runoff to lakes and rivers, they can result in blooms of algae—this is called ___.
Eutrophication
In percentage, how much nitrogen is the Earth’s atmosphere made of?
78%
When a nutrient is limiting, adding more of it will ____ growth.
Increase
This is an essential nutrient found in the macromolecules of humans and other organisms, including DNA.
Phosphorus
Most phosphorus in nature exists in the form of ____.
Phosphate Ion (PO4)3
This is often the limiting nutrient, or nutrient that is most scarce and thus limits growth, in aquatic ecosystems.
Phosphorus
When nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer are carried in runoff to lakes and oceans, they can cause ____, the overgrowth of algae. The algae may deplete oxygen from the water and create a ____.
Eutrophication, Dead Zone
This is released by the weathering of rocks.
Sulphur
Sulphur comes in contact with air and is converted into ____.
Sulphates
Sulphates are taken up by plants and microbes and are converted into
____.
The ____ of Sulphur is then consumed by the animals through their food and thus Sulphur moves in the food chain.
Organic Form
When the animals die, some of the Sulphur is released by ____ while some enter the tissues of microbes.
Decomposition
There are several natural sources such as ___, that release Sulphur directly into the atmosphere.
Volcanic Eruptions
Evaporation of Water
Breakdown of Organic Matter in Swamps
This Sulphur falls on earth with ____.
Rainfall
