Magaan, Abigail D.

II-BEED

Mrs. Jennifer Consing MW/7:00-8:30PM

BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES Solar energy fixed by photosynthesis is the driving force that forms the basis of ecosystem productivity. But it is only one requirement for the organisms in the ecosystem. The interaction involving the flow of materials are as essential as the flow of energy in maintaining the components. Thus, the process of ecosystem continually produces new biological materials are as essential as the flow of energy in maintaining the components. Thus, the process of ecosystem continually produces new biological materials and decomposes old materials. If natural cycle did not exist to recalculate the chemical elements in these materials, the entire ecosystems ould be at a stand still. This material flows from the biotic and back to the abiotic components again of the earths ecosystem in a more or less cyclical manner known as the biogeochemical cycles. TYPES OF BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES The biogeochemical cycles are classified into hydrologic gaseous and sedimentary cycles. The hydrologic or water cycle is the path by which the water moves from one physical state to another and one place to another. The gaseous nutrient cycle are the carbon cycle, which is the circulation of the carbon between the living organism and the environment, and the nitrogen cycle is the circulation of nitrogen between the living organisms and the environment. Oxygen cycle is the circulation of oxygen between living organism and the environment. The sedimentary cycles involved the movement of minerals such as calcium and phosphorus from land, to sediments, in the seas and then back to the land. The earths crust is the main storehouse for mineral nutrients that flow through the sedimentary cycles.