SB24403

Ecology
Biogeochemical cycles
Sem 2 [2020/2021]
Dr Soo Chen Lin, soo@ums.edu.my
Explain different biogeochemical cycles.

Know the limiting nutrients and how

eutrophication can happen.

Lesson Learning Outcomes (LLO)

 Soil and
Air and rocks
water

Hydrogen Carbon
Phosphorus Sedimentary Iron
Gaseous

Oxygen Nitrogen Calcium

Biogeochemical Cycles
Pathways by which essential elements flow from the abiotic and biotic compartments of the Earth
 Water

Oxygen Carbon

Biogeochemical
Cycles

Sulfur Nitrogen

Phosphorus
Water cycle
❑ It is through the processes
of condensation,
evaporation, and
precipitation that water
cycles through the
atmosphere.
❑ Assimilation – plants
absorb water from the
ground, animals drink
water or eat other
organisms which are
composed mostly of water
❑ Release – plants transpire,
animals breathe and expel
liquid wastes
Deforestation Irrigation Damming rivers

Use of pesticides, herbicides, and excess nitrogen

for farming Burning of fossil fuels Contributing to climate change

Anthropogenic effects on water cycle

Several human activities can impact on the water cycle: -
Carbon cycle
Major processes:-

Photosynthesis, respiration, and

decomposition

Burial and decomposition of dead organisms

and their conversion into coal and petroleum

Erosion and volcanic activity

Ocean uptake
Burning of fossil fuels Deforestation Agricultural and forestry methods

removing
increasing increasing
atmospheric
atmospheric atmospheric
CO2 - Carbon
CO2 CO2
Sequestration

Anthropogenic effects on carbon cycle

Several human activities can impact on the carbon cycle: -
Nitrogen cycle
Nitrogen exists in many different
forms

organic
nitrogen

dissolved
inorganic
nitrogen

dinitrogen gas,
N2
 Deforestation Industrial nitrogen fixation Use of nitrogen fertilizer Burning of fossil fuels Livestock ranching

Nitrate leached from
the soils and lost via
streams, rivers
Making fertilizers Increases nitrogen Returns N to Livestock release a
availability in aquatic atmosphere as large amounts of
systems, leading to nitrous oxides which ammonia into the
nutrient pollution, is a greenhouse gas environment from
eutrophication, and a source of acid their wastes
changes in algal precipitation
species diversity, and
fish kills

Anthropogenic effects on nitrogen cycle

Several human activities can impact on the nitrogen cycle: -
Phosphorus
cycle
❑ In contrast to C, N cycles, the P
cycle is mostly sedimentary:
the major pool of phosphate is
in phosphate-bearing
rock/sediment
❑ P Cycle is relatively simple,
with release via erosion and
simple cycling among
organisms
❑ Only soluble compounds can
be assimilated by plants
Mining phosphorous- Use of phosphate-
use of detergents Livestock ranching
bearing rock rich fertilizers

Anthropogenic effects on phosphorus cycle

Several human activities can impact on the phosphorus cycle: -
Sulfur cycle
❑ Atmospheric sulfur is found in
the form of sulfur dioxide
(SO2) and enters the
atmosphere in three ways:
❑ from the decomposition of
organic molecules, from
volcanic activity and
geothermal vents, and from
the burning of fossil fuels by
humans.
❑ On land, sulfur is deposited in
four major ways:
❑ precipitation, direct fallout
from the atmosphere, rock
weathering, and geothermal
vents
❑ Sulfur enters the ocean via
runoff from land, from
atmospheric fallout, and from
underwater geothermal vents.
 Acid rain affects the
man-made
environment
through the
chemical
degradation of
buildings
burning of coal,
natural gas, and
other fossil fuels

use of sulfate-
containing
fertilizer
Acid rain causes
damage to aquatic
mining coal and ecosystems by
lowering the pH of
extracting lakes, which kills
many of the
petroleum from resident fauna
the Earth's crust

Anthropogenic effects on sulfur cycle

Several human activities can impact on the sulfur cycle: -
Oxygen cycle
❑ Free in the air, dissolved
in water, and stored in
the earth’s crust in the
form of oxides
❑ Respiration &
photosynthesis
 Fossil fuel combustion,
Increasing human
Deforestation cement manufacturing and Wildfire
population & livestock
gas flaring in oil fields

Anthropogenic effects on oxygen cycle

Several human activities can impact on the oxygen cycle: -
Limiting
nutrient
❑ a relatively scarce naturally
occurring element.
❑ Limiting nutrients are
important because they
determine the quantity of
plants available for animals
to feed on.
❑ Growth only occurs if the
nutrient is available.

❑ When you get an influx of

nutrients into an ecosystem,
it can result in
eutrophication and algal
blooms.