Biogeochemica

l cycles
Maria Kristina E. Ogot, RMT
Integrated Sciences Department
College of Allied Sciences
OUTLINE OF TOPICS
I. Water Cycle
II. Carbon-Oxygen Cycle
III. Nitrogen Cycle
IV. Phosphorus Cycle
V. Sulfur Cycle
 Biogeochemical cycles
 Any of the natural pathways by which essential elements of living
matter are circulated.

 Circular paths of the chemical elements passing back and forth between
organisms and environment.

 Chemical interactions that exist between the four parts of the Earth’s
system:
Atmosphere
Hydrosphere
Lithosphere
Biosphere
Earth’s System: Four Parts
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES
 PERFECT/ GASEOUS CYCLE

 Includes the water cycle, oxygen cycle, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle.
 Nutrients are replaced as fast as they are utilized.
 Tend to move more rapidly to adjust more readily to changes in the biosphere
because of the large atmospheric reservoir.
 Main reservoirs of nutrients: atmosphere, hydrosphere
 IMPERFECT/ SEDIMENTARY CYCLE

 Includes the phosphorus cycle, sulfur cycle, calcium cycle, magnesium cycle
 Some nutrients lost get locked into sediments and are unavailable for immediate cycling.
 Elements move from land to water to sediment.
 Main reservoir: lithosphere
 Two parts OF NUTRIENT cycles
I. Environmental Phase
 cycling of nutrients by air, water,
soil

II. Organism Phase

 Transfer of nutrients to plants,
animals and microorganisms
 Importance of Biogeochemical Cycles
1.)  Transform matter from one form to another for use of different organisms and
natural systems.

2.) Facilitate the storage of various elements for long-term and short-term usage.

3.) Connect different ecosystems and sustain them as well by maintaining a

continuous flow of matter and energy through them.
The water cycle
Importance of Water

Organism Geographical
Level Level
Water Cycle
 Describes how water is
exchanged (cycled) through
Earth's land, ocean, and
atmosphere.
 Consists of three major
processes:
I. Evaporation
II. Condensation
III. Precipitation
 I. evaporation
 Process of a liquid's surface changing to a gas.
 Liquid water (in the ocean, lakes, or rivers) evaporates and becomes water vapor.
 Water absorbs heat energy from the sun and turns into vapors.
 Influenced by wind, temperature, and the density of the body of water.
 II. condensation
 Process of a gas changing to a liquid.
 Water vapor in the atmosphere condenses and becomes liquid.
 Clouds form as water vapor condenses, or becomes more concentrated (dense).
 Water vapor condenses around tiny particles called cloud condensation nuclei (CCN).
 
 III. Precipitation
 Any liquid or solid water that falls to Earth as a result of condensation
in the atmosphere.
 Cycled from the atmosphere to the Earth or ocean.
 Includes rain, snow, drizzle, sleet and hail.
Other processes:
IV. Runoff
 Describes a variety of ways liquid water moves
across land.
 Process where water runs over the surface of earth.
Other processes:
V. percolation
 Downward movement of water from the land
surface into soil or porous rock caused by gravity.
Water Cycle
Effects of Human Activities
on Water Cycle
We alter the water cycle by:

Withdrawing large amounts of freshwater.

Clearing vegetation and eroding soils.

Polluting surface and underground water.

Contributing to climate change.
The carbon
dioxide-
oxygen cycle
Sources of carbon
 Sources of OXYGEN
 50-80% of the oxygen production on Earth comes from the ocean:
Oceanic phytoplanktons: cyanobacteria
green algae
diatoms
dinoflagellates
 Co2 and O2 Cycle
 Their cycles are tied closely together.
 Both are cycled so organisms always have a supply available.
 Dependent on plants and animals
 Involves three major processes, one minor processes:
Photosynthesis
Respiration
Combustion
Decomposition
PHOTOSYNTHES
IS
 Plants release sugar and oxygen in to the atmosphere as by product.
 Green plants and trees take in CO2 and water using chlorophyll in
their leaves and energy from the sun.
RESPIRATION
 Animals take in oxygen through this process.
 Animals take in simple sugar, break it down
and release carbon dioxide, water and energy
 Combustion
 Process of burning fuel.
 CO2 is released in the atmosphere.
 Natural combustion includes volcanic eruptions.
 decomposition
 Dead organic materials release carbon dioxide return into the
atmosphere.
 Certain insects, fungi and bacteria aid in the decomposition
process.
 Effects of Human Activities on Carbon Cyc
 We alter the carbon cycle by adding excess CO2 to the
atmosphere through:
Burning fossil fuels.
Clearing vegetation faster than it is replaced.
The
NITROGEN cycle
NITROGEN cycle
 Process in which nitrogen circulates among the air, soil, water, and organisms in an ecosystem.
 Transformations of nitrogen and nitrogen-containing compounds through biological and physical processes.
 The atmosphere is about 78% nitrogen gas, N2.
 Most organisms cannot use nitrogen gas.
Sources of Nitrogen Forms of Nitrogen
1. Inorganic fertilizers 1. Urea, CO(NH2)2
2. Nitrogen Fixation 2. Ammonia, NH3 (gaseous)
3. Animal Residues 3. Ammonium, NH4
4. Crop residues 4. Nitrate, NO3
5. Organic fertilizers 5. Nitrite, NO2
6. Atmospheric Dinitrogen, N2
7. Organic N
FIVE MAJOR STEPS IN NITROGEN CYCLE
1.) Nitrogen Fixation
 Largest source of soil nitrogen in natural ecosystems.

 Nitrogen-fixing bacteria convert nitrogen gas, N2, into ammonia, NH3.

Free-living soil bacteria and cyanobacteria (blue-green “algae”) are capable of converting N2 into ammonia (NH3) and ammonium (NH4+).

Symbiotic bacteria (Rhizobium) in the nodules of legumes and certain other plants can also fix nitrogen.
2.) Nitrification
 Process of converting ammonia (NH3) to nitrite (NO2) and then to nitrate (NO3) by nitrifying bacteria.

Step 1: Oxidation of ammonia to nitrite

Microbes involved: Nitrosomonas, Nitrosospira, Nitrosococcus

Step 2: Oxidation of nitrite to nitrate

Microbes involved: Nitrobacter
3.) Assimilation
 Process in which plants absorb nitrogen.
 Plants can take in either ammonium (NH4+) or nitrates (NO3-) and make amino acids or
nucleic acids.
 When an animal eats a plant, nitrogen compounds become part of the animal’s body.
4.) Ammonification
 Decomposers convert organic nitrogen (amino acids, DNA) into ammonia (NH 3) and ammonium
(NH4+).

 A large number of species of bacteria and fungi are capable of converting organic molecules into
ammonia.
5.) Denitrification
 Soil nitrate, NO3, is changed to nitrogen gas, N2, which returns to the atmosphere.
Microbes involved: Denitrifying bacteria Bacillus, Paracoccus, Pseudomonas

 They do this under anaerobic conditions as a means of obtaining oxygen (O2).

The recycling of
NITROGEN is
complete.
Effects of Human Activities on the Nitrogen Cycle
 We alter the nitrogen cycle by:
a.) Adding gases that contribute to acid rain.
b.) Adding nitrous oxide to the atmosphere through farming practices which can warm the atmosphere and deplete ozone.
c.) Contaminating ground water from nitrate ions in inorganic fertilizers.
d.) Releasing nitrogen into the troposphere through deforestation.
The
Phosphorus Cycle
Phosphorus Cycle
 Phosphorus, as phosphate (PO4-3), is an essential
element of life.
 It does not cycle through atmosphere, thus enters
producers through the soil and is cycled locally
through producers, consumers and decomposers.
 Moves in a cycle through rocks, water, soil and
sediments and organisms.
 Over very long time periods (geological time)
phosphorus follows a sedimentary cycle.

Minerals in Lithosphere: largest phosphorus reservoir

 Four Major Steps in Phosphorus Cycle
1.) Weathering
2.) Absorption by plants
3.) Absorption by animals
4.) Return to the Environment through
Decomposition
 1.) Weathering
 Causes rocks to release phosphate ions
and other minerals

Rocks are one of the primary sources and

reservoirs of phosphorus, where they
remain combined with other elements.

 Phosphorus in the soil then reaches the

soil by the action of rain or by acid
produced by different microorganisms:
Actinomycetes, Pseudomonas, Bacillus,
Aspergillus, Penicillium
 2.) Absorption by Plants
 Plants take up inorganic phosphate from
the soil.
 The amount of phosphorus available to
plants in the soil is very less, and thus,
fertilizers containing phosphorus are to be
added to improve plant growth and soil
fertility.
 Plants can either take up phosphorus
directly from the soil, or the phosphorus
can be made available to plants by
different symbiotic microorganisms.
 Most of our phosphorus is locked up in sediments and rocks, it’s not
available for plants to use.
 A lot of the phosphorus in soils is also not available to plants.
 Availability of phosphorus in soil to plants depends of several reversible
pathways:\
1.) Bacteria convert plant-available phosphate into organic forms.
2.) Other bacteria make phosphate available by mineralization.
3.) Adsorption to soil particles.
4.) pH of the soil
 3.) Absorption by Animals
 Organic phosphorous moves through the
food chain as consumers feed on
producers, resulting in the movement of
phosphorus from one form of life to
another.
 Phosphorus transferred to the consumers
is used for the formation of biomolecules
like the nucleotides and connective tissues
like bones.
4.) Return to the Environment through Decomposition
 Phosphorus present in living beings can be
transferred back to the lithosphere by the
action of decomposing microorganisms
on the dead plants and animals.
 Phosphorus in soil can end up in waterways
and eventually oceans.
 Once there, it can be incorporated into
sediments over time.
Effects of Human Activities
on the Phosphorous Cycle
 Removing large amounts of phosphate from the earth to make
fertilizer.
 Reducing phosphorous in tropical soils by clearing forests.
 Adding excess phosphates to aquatic systems from runoff of
animal wastes and fertilizers.
The
Sulfur Cycle
Sulfur Cycle
 10th most abundant element.
 Found in rocks or in ocean sediments.
 Present in proteins, amino acids, vitamins, and enzymes
necessary for plants and animals.
 Collection of processes by which sulfur moves to and from the
minerals and living systems.
 Four Major Steps in Sulfur Cycle

1.) Mineralization
2.) Oxidation
3.) Reduction
4.) Microbial immobilization
1.) Mineralization

 Transformation of organic sulfur

into inorganic forms:
hydrogen sulfide, elemental sulfur,
sulfide minerals.
 Sulfur gets back to the soil after
the plant has been dead.
2.) Oxidation

 Process of losing an electron from an element or compound.

 Sulfide oxidation, sulfate oxidation.

Sulfate oxidation: elemental sulfur is oxidized into SO4 by sulfur

bacteria.

Sulfide oxidation: sulfide is converted back to elemental sulfur

facilitated by oxidoreductase enzyme; carried out both by
microbes or decomposer and the environmental form.
3.) Reduction
 Process carried out by anaerobic microbes which
transforms sulfate into sulfide.
 Sulfur reduction, sulfate reduction

Sulfur reduction: a dissimilatory process; elemental

sulfur is reduced to sulfide ion by anaerobic pink sulfur
bacteria

Sulfate reduction: an assimilatory process; process of

absorbing sulfate from soil to convert it to sulfur
containing amino acid.
4.) Microbial Immobilization

 Microorganisms have the ability to immobilize sulfur compounds,

which ultimately results in subsequent incorporation of these
sulfur compounds into the organic form of sulfur..
Effects of Human Activities
on the Sulfur Cycle
 We add sulfur dioxide to the atmosphere by:
1.) Burning coal and oil
2.) Refining sulfur containing petroleum.
3.) Convert sulfur-containing metallic ores into free metals such as
copper, lead, and zinc releasing sulfur dioxide into the
environment.
 THANKS!
Do you have any questions?

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, including icons

by Flaticon, infographics & images by Freepik

Please keep this slide for attribution

ALTERNATIVE RESOURCES