nitrogenous organic residue in soil originates from death and

decay of plants and excreta of animals. These organic residues

in soil are taken up by various soil micro-organisms for their
metabolism which give products such as ammonia, nitrates
Natural Resources 41
and nitrites. Plants absorb nitrates from soil which re-enter
the nitrogen cycle. Some soil micro-organisms break down
soil nitrate into nitrogen by denitrification process while
others transform nitrogen into soluble nitrogen compounds
(see Fig. 2.3).
Chemical and
atmospheric
synthesis
Denitrificator
Chemical
fixation
Nitrobacter
Nitrosomonas
bacteria
Nitrogen fixation
by micro-organisms
Microbial
decay
Atmospheric
Nitrogen
Nitrogen
oxide
Nitrate
Nitrate
Ammonia
Fig. 2.3: The nitrogen cycle
2.5.3 Carbon Cycle
As carbon is the backbone of biological chemistry, the
carbon cycle is a very important chemical cycle. The
atmosphere is the minor reservoir of carbon dioxide while
the oceans are the major reservoir, containing as much as 50
times more as that of air where it is stored as bicarbonate
mineral deposit on the ocean floor. The latter regulates the
carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere. The cycle operates
in the form of carbon dioxide exchanging among the
atmosphere, biosphere and the oceans (Fig. 2.4). The Carbon
dioxide balance sheet per year is given:
(i) emissions by fossil fuel 20 billion tonnes,
(ii) emissions by deforestation and changes in land use
5.5 billion tonnes,
(iii) uptake in the oceans 5.5 billion tonnes,
(iv) uptake by carbon dioxide fertilization, i.e., photo-synthesis,
7.3 billion tonnes.
42 Environment and Ecology
Thus there is a net increase of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere of 11 billion tonnes per year. This can be reduced
by 50 per cent if we can stop deforestation (Fig. 2.5).
The atmosphere contains 2700 billion tonnes of carbon
dioxide; biosphere, vegetation and soil about 6600 billion
tonnes and the oceans about 1,36,000 billion tonnes of
carbon dioxide.
HCO3