BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE

Biogeochemical cycle - the cycling of chemical elements required by life between the living and
non-living parts of the environment. Some examples of these chemical elements are Water,
Phosphorous Sulfur, Nitrogen, Oxygen and Carbon.

These elements cycle in either a gas cycle or a sedimentary cycle; some cycle as both a gas and
sediment.

In a gas cycle elements move through the atmosphere. Main reservoirs are the atmosphere and
the ocean.

In a sedimentary cycle elements move from land to water to sediment. Main reservoirs are the
soil and sedimentary rocks

a. Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen (N) is an essential constituent of protein, DNA, RNA and Chlorophyll.
- Nitrogen is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere, but it must be fixed or
converted into usable form.

Nitrogen Fixation Methods:    1) High

energy fixation- a small amount of atmospheric nitrogen is fixed by lightning. The high energy
combines N and H2O resulting in ammonia (NH3) and nitrates (NO3). These forms are carried
to Earth in precipitation. 

2) Biological fixation: achieves 90% of the nitrogen fixation. Atmospheric nitrogen (N2) is split
and combined with hydrogen (H) atoms to form ammonia (NH3).
Who performs nitrogen fixation?     a. Symbiotic
bacteria (eg. Rhizobium spp.) living in association with leguminous ( plants in the pea family),
and root-noduled non-leguminous plants (eg. Alnus spp.) 
 b. Free-living anaerobic bacteria 
 c. 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. 

Processes of the nitrogen cycle

Assimilation
Plants can absorb nitrate or ammonium ions from the soil via their root hairs. If nitrate is
absorbed, it is first reduced to nitrite ions and then ammonium ions for incorporation into
amino acids, nucleic acids, and chlorophyll.

Ammonification (Mineralization)
When a plant or animal dies, or an animal excretes, the initial form of nitrogen is organic.
Bacteria, or in some cases, fungi, convert the organic nitrogen within the remains back into
ammonia.

Nitrification
The conversion of ammonia to nitrates is performed primarily by soil-living bacteria and other
nitrifying bacteria.

Denitrification
Denitrification is the reduction of nitrites back into the largely inert nitrogen gas (N 2),
completing the nitrogen cycle. This process is performed by bacterial species such as the
Pseudomonas and Clostridium in anaerobic conditions.
Anaerobic ammonium oxidation
In this biological process, nitrite and ammonium are converted directly into dinitrogen gas. This
process makes up a major proportion of dinitrogen conversion in the oceans.

b. Oxygen Cycle

The oxygen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle that describes the movement of oxygen within
and between its three main reservoirs: the atmosphere, the biosphere, and the lithosphere.
The main driving factor of the oxygen cycle is photosynthesis, which is responsible for the
modern Earth's atmosphere and life as we know it.

By far the largest reservoir of Earth's oxygen is within the silicate and oxide minerals of the
crust and mantle (99.5%). Only a small fraction has been released as free oxygen to the
biosphere (0.01%) and atmosphere (0.49%).

The main source of oxygen within the biosphere and atmosphere is photosynthesis, which
breaks down carbon dioxide and water to create sugars and oxygen:
6CO2 + 6H2O + energy → C6H12O6 + 6O2

The main way oxygen is lost from the atmosphere is via respiration and decay, mechanisms in
which animal life and bacteria consume oxygen and release carbon dioxide.

c. Carbon Cycle
The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged between the
biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth.
Take note:
- Carbon (c) enters the biosphere during photosynthesis:
CO2 + H20 ----> C6H12O6 + O2 + H20
- Carbon is returned to the biosphere in cellular respiration:
O2 + H20 ------> CO2 +H2O + energy

Atmospheric carbon consists mostly of carbon dioxide and has two major sinks: terrestrial
ecosystems and marine ecosystems, both of which deal with photosynthesis as a part of
assimilation and respiration as a part of release.

 Terrestrial ecosystems draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it in
photosynthesis. The equation, C02 + H20 + light => C6H12O6 + O2 + energy, shows how
carbon dioxide is broken down and used to produce glucose for the plants and oxygen
as a byproduct.  All plants act as a sink for carbon dioxide because it is a necessary gas
for photosynthesis.  Of the terrestrial ecosystems, forests have the highest rates of
productivity, thus utilizing carbon at a higher rate compared to oceans.

 Marine ecosystems are separated into two areas: coastal ecosystems and the open
ocean. Coastal ecosystems include estuaries, wetlands, and continental shelves. Open
oceans are considered all areas beyond the shelves. Both have the capacity to store
significant amounts of carbon in sediments and also are able to sequester carbon in
photosynthesis or chemosynthesis through phytoplankton, seaweeds, and other marine
algae. Most storage of carbon is in marine sediments and rocks, although some carbon
is used by marine life in the formation of calcium carbonate.

Carbon is taken from the atmosphere in several ways:

 Photosynthesis - convert carbon dioxide into carbohydrates
 Thermohaline circulation which transports dense surface water into the ocean's interior
resulting in the formation of carbonic acid the CO2
 Phytoplankton in the Earth's oceans.(Photosynthesis)
 Burning of biomass
  Over-fishing will reduce the amount of Marine Biota in the sea, and thus decrease the
amount of Carbon taken out of the atmosphere by sea creatures

Take note:

Carbon cycle has major effect on global climate because it increases global warming which
results to greenhouse effect

d. Water Cycle or Hydrologic cycle

The physical processes

 Evaporation is the transfer of water from bodies of surface water into the
atmosphereCondensation is the transformation of water vapor to liquid water
droplets in the air, producing clouds and fog.
 Advection is the movement of water—in solid, liquid, or vapor states—through
the atmosphere. Without advection, water that evaporated over the oceans
could not precipitate over land.
 Precipitation is water vapor that has condensed into clouds and falls to the
Earth's surface. This mostly occurs as rainfall, but also includes snow, hail, fog
drip, and sleet.
 Runoff includes the variety of ways by which water moves across the land. This
includes both surface runoff and channel runoff.

Less fundamental processes involved in the water cycle are:

 Sublimation is the state change directly from solid water (snow or ice) to water
vapor.
 Canopy interception is the precipitation that is intercepted by plant foliage and
eventually evaporates back to the atmosphere rather than falling to the ground.
 Infiltration is the flow of water on the ground surface into the ground.
 Snowmelt refers to the runoff produced by melting snow.
 Subsurface flow is the flow of water underground.

e. Phosphorus Cycle
- It is an important component of DNA, ATP, RNA, protein and enzymes
- A good example of how a mineral element becomes part of an organism

- The source of Phosphorus is rock

- It is released into the cycle through erosion or mining
- It is soluble in H2O as phosphate (PO4)
- It is taken up by plant roots, then travels through food chains
- It is returned to sediment

f. Sulfur Cycle
- Component of protein
- The man source of sulfur is the lithosphere (earth's crust

- Sulfur (S) enters the atmosphere as hydrogen sulfide (H2S) during fossil fuel combustion,
volcanic eruptions, gas exchange at ocean surfaces and decomposition.

- H2S is immediately oxidized to sulfur dioxide (SO2)

- SO2 and water vapor makes H2SO4 ( a weak sulfuric acid), which is then carried to Earth in
rainfall
- Sulfur in soluble form is taken up by plant roots and incorporated into amino acids such as
cysteine. It then travels through the food chain and eventually released through decomposition