ENVIRONMENTAL

CYCLES
 Topics
• Biogeochemical Cycles and Nutrients
• Carbon Cycle
• Nitrogen Cycle
• Hydrologic Cycle
• Tectonic Cycle
 Life and Chemical Elements
• All living things are made up of chemical elements.

• Among >103 known chemical elements, only 24 are required by

organisms for their lives/nutrition- these are called nutrient
elements.

• Macronutrient elements- These elements required in large

amounts. e. g. carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N),
phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), potassium
(K) etc.

• Micronutrients elements- These elements are required either in

small amounts by all life or in moderate amounts by some form of
life and not at all by others. E. g. iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc
(Zn), boron (B), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), silicon (Si) etc.
Biogeochemical cycle
The pathway by which an element or compound moves through
biotic (biosphere) and abiotic (lithosphere, atmosphere, and
hydrosphere) locations/compartments of Earth is called
biogeochemical cycle or substance turnover or cycling of
substances
The biogeochemical cycles are important in ecosystem because
they maintain the equilibrium through balancing the state of the
elements/compounds between compartments. The most important
biogeochemical cycles are the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle,
oxygen cycle, phosphorus cycle, and the water cycle.
As elements move through their biogeochemical cycles, they
may accumulate in certain portions of the cycles and remain
there for long periods of time. These storage sites such as the
atmosphere, the oceans and other bodies of water, and
underground deposits are called reservoirs.
Nutrient Pools and Nutrient Flux
• Sink – Chemicals enter storage compartments

• Nutrient pool– a specific component or compartment

where a nutrient resides for a while; Can be a single
organism, a population, a community, a trophic level,
or an abiotic feature (e.g., lake, soil, atmosphere, etc.)

• Nutrient flux– the rate of exchange of nutrients

between pools. i.e. the amount of elements that moves
between compartments is the flux
 Nutrient Cycles and Life
• Nutrient cycles connect past, present, and future
forms of life. Some of the carbon atoms in your skin
may once have been part of an oak leaf, a dinosaur’s
skin, or a layer of limestone rock.
• People who lived 25,000 years ago may have
inhaled some of the nitrogen molecules you just
inhaled.
D. T. Krohne, General Ecology
 Carbon Cycle
• Carbon is the element that anchors all organic substances
• The carbon cycle- Carbon combines with and is chemically and
biologically linked with the cycles of oxygen and hydrogen that
form the major compounds of life

Carbon exists in the nonliving environment as:

• carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere and dissolved in water (
as HCO3-)

• carbonate rocks (limestone and coral = CaCO3)

• deposits of coal, petroleum and natural gas derived from

once-living things

• dead organic matter, e.g., humus in the soil

Carbon enters the biotic world through the action
of autotrophs:
• Primarily photoautotrophs, like plants and algae,
that use the energy of light to convert carbon dioxide
to organic matter; and
• to a small extent, chemoautotrophs — bacteria that
do the same but use the energy derived from an
oxidation of molecules.
 Carbon Cycle
Carbon returns to the atmosphere and water
by:

• respiration (as CO2)

• burning of fossil fuel
• decay (producing CO2 if oxygen is present,
methane (CH4) if it is not.
This simplified model illustrates the circulation of various chemical forms of carbon in
the global carbon cycle, with major harmful impacts of human activities shown
by the red arrows.
 CO2 & CH4

Conversion
under
extreme
pressure
and
temperatur
e

Modified from D. T. Krohne, General Ecology

Global flux of carbon, 1850-1990

© 2003 John Wiley and Sons Publishers

 Carbon Cycle: Biggest threats

• Decline in forest growth;

• Killing of ocean phytoplankton due to rising sea
temperatures;
• Death of forests due to spread of disease and insects;
• Melting permafrost layer (In geology, permafrost or
permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of
water for two or more years. Permafrost can also be a
storage of carbon (1.7 billion MT);
• Land clearing for development and agriculture;
• Continued output of carbon from fossil fuel burning.
 The nitrogen cycle
• Cycle responsible for moving important nitrogen components
through the biosphere and other Earth systems
• Extremely important because nitrogen is required by all living
things. Nitrogen (N) is an essential element of protein, DNA,
RNA, and chlorophyll
• N is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere, but it must be
fixed or converted into a usable form. About 80% of
atmosphere is molecular nitrogen, it is un-reactive and cannot
be used directly as a nutrient by multicellular plants or animal
• Nitrogen fixation: The process of converting
inorganic, molecular nitrogen in the atmosphere to
ammonia or nitrate
• De-nitrification: The process of releasing fixed
nitrogen back to molecular nitrogen
 Nitrogen Fixation Methods
1. High energy fixation- a small amount of atmospheric
nitrogen is fixed by lightening and industrial processes. The
high energy combines N and H2O resulting in ammonia (NH3)
and nitrates (NO3). These forms are carried to Earth with
precipitation.
2. Biological fixation: achieves 90% of the nitrogen fixation.
Atmospheric nitrogen (N2) is splited and combined with
hydrogen (H) atoms to form ammonia (NH3) by bacteria.
In aquatic systems, in soil, and in the roots of some plants,
specialized bacteria, called nitrogen-fixing bacteria, complete
the conversion as part of the nitrogen cycle.
 Performing nitrogen fixation
- Symbiotic bacteria living in association with
leguminous (plants in the pea family), and
root-noduled non- leguminous plants.
- free-living anaerobic bacteria
- blue-green algae (cyanobacteria)
• Once NH3 is in the soil it combines with H+
ions to form ammonium ion (NH4+), or
without it to form NO3-.

• NH4+ and NO3- are readily absorbed by

plants.
 De-nitrification
• When organisms die, denitrifying bacteria convert
organic nitrogen to ammonia, nitrate, or molecular
nitrogen and thus replenishes the atmosphere.
• They (bacteria) live deep in soil and in aquatic
sediments where conditions are anaerobic. They use
nitrates as an alternative to oxygen for the final
electron acceptor in their respiration.
This diagram is a simplified model of the circulation of various chemical forms of
nitrogen in the nitrogen cycle in a terrestrial ecosystem, with major harmful
human impacts shown by the red arrows.
The activities of humans that severely altered
the nitrogen cycle
• The application of nitrogen fertilizers to crops has caused
increased rates of de-nitrification and leaching of nitrate
into groundwater. The additional nitrogen entering the
groundwater system eventually flows into streams, rivers,
lakes, and estuaries. In these systems, the added nitrogen
can lead to eutrophication.
• Increased deposition of nitrogen from atmospheric
sources because of fossil fuel combustion and forest
burning. Both of these processes release a variety of solid
forms of nitrogen through combustion.
 The Hydrologic Cycle
The transfer of water from the oceans to the
atmosphere to the land and back to the oceans.
Includes:
• Evaporation of water from the oceans
• Precipitation on land
• Evaporation from land
• Runoff from streams, rivers, and sub-surface
groundwater
• Transpiration from plants
 Human Impacts

Withdrawal: –Removal from society & industry faster than

recharged (overdraft) Increased

Flooding: –Removal of wetlands & creating non-pourous

tracts

Deforestation: –Clearing land reduces transpiration,

therefore there is a decrease in precipitation.
 Tectonic Cycle
Tectonic cycle: Involves creation and destruction of the solid outer
layer of Earth, the lithosphere
Plate tectonics: The slow movement of the large segments of
Earth’s outermost rock shell
– Boundaries between plates are geologically active areas
 Tectonic Cycle: Plate Boundaries
• Divergent plate boundary:
– Occurs at a spreading ocean ridge, where
plates are moving away from one another
– New lithosphere is produced (seafloor
spreading)
• Convergent plate boundary
– Occurs when plates collide
• Produces linear coastal mountain ranges or
continental mountain ranges
• Transform fault boundary
– Occurs where one plate slides past another
• San Andreas Fault in California