SIH1001 Semester 1 Academic Session 2020/2021

SIH1001 Population Biology

Nutrient cycles
Beng Fye LAU
Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya
E-mail address: bengfye@um.edu.my
Biogeochemical cycles
• Biogeochemical cycles:
• Nutrient cycles involve biological, geologic and chemical interactions
• Nutrient cycles involve both biotic and abiotic components

• There are two general scales:

• Global: gaseous forms of C, O, S, N
• Local: P, K, Ca
• Terrestrial ecosystems
• Aquatic ecosystems
General model of nutrient cycling

• Focus on reservoirs and processes

• Reservoir A: Organic materials available as nutrients

• Reservoir B: Organic materials unavailable as nutrients

• Reservoir C: Inorganic materials available as nutrients

• Reservoir D: Inorganic materials unavailable as nutrients

Biogeochemical cycles

• Carbon cycle

• Nitrogen cycle

• Water cycle

• Phosphorus cycle
The carbon cycle
• The carbon cycle:
• The global movement of carbon between the abiotic and biotic components

• Carbon is present in the:

• Atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2)
• Ocean / fresh water: dissolved carbon dioxide i.e., carbonate (CO32-) and bicarbonate
(HCO3-)
• Rocks as limestones
• During photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is removed from air and fix into complex organic
compounds such as glucose.

• Many of these compounds are used as fuel for cellular respiration by producers,
consumers, and decomposers.
• Cellular respiration returns carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

• Sometimes, the carbon in biological molecules is not recycled back to the abiotic
environment for some time e.g., a large amount of carbon is stored in the wood of trees
• Formation of fossil fuels

• Millions of years ago, vast coal beds formed from the bodies of ancient trees that
were buried and subjected to anaerobic conditions before they had fully decayed.

• The oils of unicellular marine organisms probably gave rise to the underground
deposits of oil and natural gas that accumulated in the geologic past.

• The process of combustion may return the coal in the fossil fuel and wood to the
atmosphere.
• An even greater amount of carbon that is stored for million of years is incorporated into
the shells of marine organisms.
• Die – sink to the ocean floor
• Sediments cover them forming seabed deposits
• These deposits are eventually cemented together to form limestone (sedimentary
rock)
• Sedimentary rock on the bottom of the sea floor may lift to form land surfaces.

• When the process of geologic uplift exposes limestone, chemical and physical weathering
processes slowly erode it away – returns carbon to the water and atmosphere
The nitrogen cycle
• The nitrogen cycle:
• Movement of nitrogen between the abiotic environment and organisms.

• There are five steps in the nitrogen cycle:

• Nitrogen fixation

• Nitrification

• Assimilation

• Ammonification

• Denitrification
1. Biological nitrogen fixation
• Conversion of gaseous nitrogen (N2) into ammonia (NH3)

• Processes: combustion, volcanic action, lightning discharges, industrial processess

• Nitrogen fixing bacteria:

• Cyanobacteria
• Free-living and symbiotic bacteria
• Carry out nitrogen fixation
• Use enzyme nitrogenase (functions only in the absence of oxygen)
• Bacteria live beneath layers of oxygen-excluding slime on the roots

• Rhizobium spp. live in nodules on the roots of legumes – contain

leghemoglobin

• Cyanobacteria have heterocysts

• Some water ferns have cavities
• Some in symbiotic association with cycads or other terrestrial plants
• As the photosynthetic partner of lichens
2. Nitrification
• Conversion of ammonia (NH3) or ammonium (NH4+) to nitrate (NO3-)

• Roles of soil bacteria/nitrifying bacteria:

• Nitrosomonas and Nitrococcus convert ammonia to nitrite

• Nitrobacter oxidises nitrite to nitrate.

3. Assimilation
• Plant roots absorb ammonia, ammonium, or nitrate and incorporate the nitrogen into
proteins , nucleic acids and chlorophyll

• When animals consume plant tissues, they assimilate nitrogen by taking plant nitrogenous
compounds and converting them into animal nitrogenous compounds.
4. Assimilation
• Conversion of organic nitrogen compounds into ammonia (NH3) and ammonium ions
(NH4+)

• Organisms produce nitrogen-containing wastes

• Decomposition of wastes and dead organisms release the nitrogen back into the
environment as ammonia.

• The ammonia produced is available for the process of nitrification and assimilation

• Ammonifying bacteria
5. Denitrification
• Reduction of nitrate (NO3-) to gaseous nitrogen (N2)

• Denitrifying bacteria reverse the action of nitrogen-fixing and nitrifying bacteria

• Anaerobic bacteria
The phosphorus cycle
• Phosphorus does not exist in the gaseous state – cycles from the land to sediments in the
ocean and back to the land.

• As water runs over rocks containing phosphorus it gradually erodes the surface and
carries off inorganic phosphate (PO43-)

• The erosion of phosphorus rocks releases phosphate into the soil – inorganic phosphates
are taken up by plant roots

• Animals obtain phosphorus from the food they eat –and in some drinking water

• Phosphates released by decomposers - part of the pool of inorganic phosphates in the

soil that plants can use.
• Dissolved phosphates enter aquatic ecosystem through absorption by algae and aquatic
plants – transferred along the food chain

• Decomposers break down wastes and dead organisms to release inorganic phosphate
into the water – available for use by aquatic producers

• Some phosphates in the aquatic food webs find its way back to the land –sea birds eat
fish and aquatic invertebrates and may defecate on the land
• Phosphate can be lost for varying time periods from biological cycles
• Streams and rivers carry phosphate to the ocean – deposited on the sea floor and
remains for millions of years

• The geologic uplift may expose these seafloor sediment as new land surfaces –
phosphate will once again be eroded.

• Phosphate deposits e.g. guano are mined for agricultural use.

The water cycle
• The hydrologic cycle:
• Water continuously circulates from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back
to the ocean
• Balance between water in the ocean, on the land and in the atmosphere
• Water moves from the atmosphere to the land and ocean in the form of precipitation

• When water evaporates from the water bodies, it eventually condenses and forms clouds
in the atmosphere.

• Transpiration adds a considerable amount of water vapour to the atmosphere.

• Water may evaporate from land and re-enters the atmosphere directly. It may flow in
rivers and streams to coastal estuaries
• Runoff: the movement of surface water from land to ocean
• Watershed: the area of land drained by runoff
• Water seeps downwards into the soil to become underground water.
• The underground caverns and porous rocks in which underground water is stored is
called aquifers.
• Aquifer depletion: human removal of more groundwater than precipitation or melting
snow recharges
Methods to study biogeochemical cycles
• Follow the movement of naturally occurring, nonradioactive isotopes through the biotic
and abiotic components of an ecosystem

• Add tiny amount of radioactive isotopes of specific elements and tracing their progress
Decomposition and nutrient cycling rates
• Decomposers: heterotrophs that obtain energy from detritus

• Factors affecting the growth of decomposers:

• Temperature
• Moisture
• Nutrient availability

• The rate of decomposition in different ecosystem:

• Tropical rain forest: few months-years
• Temperate forest: several years
• Reason: higher temperature and precipitation