Bio-Geo-Chemical Cycles in the Environment

Ecology is the cornerstone of the Life Sciences. It provides the link between the different branches of Life Sciences, structuring them as a complete concept of life. Ecology studies the relationships between living beings, be it animal, plants or microorganisms, and with their environment. How we interact, benefit or compete with each other, how we evolve together, how the environment presents opportunities for change, and how living beings alter the environment to provide for their own needs. Ecosystems The word ecosystem was coined by Sir Arthur George Tansley in 1935. He used the word to stress the concept of each habitat as an integrated whole. A system is a collection of interdependent parts that function as a unit and involve inputs and outputs. The major parts of an ecosystem are: Producers - Green plants Consumers - Herbivores and carnivores Decomposers - Fungi and bacteria Abiotic - Non living components, including dead organic matter and soil and water nutrients. There are elements that need to be put into the ecosystem in order for it to work. The ecosystem also contributes to the natural environment overall. Inputs and outputs of an ecosystem include: Inputs Solar energy Water Oxygen Carbon dioxide Nitrogen Other elements and compounds TYPES OF ECOLOGY Behavioural Ecology Behavioural ecology looks at how behaviour effects the survival, reproduction and growth of a species. The way individuals of a species behave can affect the survival of a population. Zoologist/Ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen (1963) addressed the issue of why animals behave in certain ways by asking four questions: Outputs Heat from respiration Water Oxygen Carbon Dioxide

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Bio-Geo-Chemical Cycles in the Environment

Function How do prey and patch choice contribute to the survival of an animal and its offspring? Causation What causes an animal to select a particular site? This can include abundance of prey, vegetation cover and the activity of other animals in the area (competition). Development How does the genetic disposition of the animal affect its behaviour? Evolutionary History (Phylogeny) How did a particular animal adapt to occupy a particular ecological niche (position of a species within its ecosystem)? An example of behavioural ecology would be when certain species group together in herds, they lessen their individual chance of predation. Ecologists would address the four aspects above to understand why the species behaved in this way. Population Ecology Populations are groups of individuals of the same species, all of which can interbreed occupying a defined area. Population ecology examines dynamics such as how these populations grow, interact and how they are limited by the resources around them by competition and by predation. Population ecology is central in the role of wildlife managers and examines such factors as birth rate (fecundity), death rate (mortality), age structure and immigration of new individuals into the population (recruitment). Community Ecology Community ecology examines how different species interact with each other and their environment within a specific geographic area (or community). It looks at why some environments support many species where others dont. Community ecology takes factors such as demography, distribution, abundance and interactions between populations into consideration. The interactions between different species are called interspecific interactions. An example of an interspecific interaction might be a Barn Owl preying upon a field vole living in the same community. Ecosystem Ecology Ecosystem ecology looks at how energy and nutrients flow through communities and the effects that energy and nutrients have on those communities. It looks at trophic (feeding) levels and how solar energy flows from plants to herbivores, carnivores and detrivores.

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Bio-Geo-Chemical Cycles in the Environment

Reported by: Neil Adrian Sorreda

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Bio-Geo-Chemical Cycles in the Environment

Biogeochemical Cycle A biogeochemical cycle, also called inorganic-organic cycle, is a natural course or pathway by which chemical elements moves through the biotic (living components of a community; biosphere) and the abiotic factors (non-living chemical and physical factors in the environment; lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere) of an ecosystem. In other words, a biogeochemical cycle is the flow of chemical elements between living organisms and the physical environment. In one hand, elements that are moving through the biotic or abiotic factors maybe be chemically recycled. On the other hand, it may be accumulated in a place called sink or reservoir, where they are held for a long time before they are release again. The amount of time that a chemical is held in one place is called residence. Each biogeochemical cycle can be considered as having a reservoir/sink (nutrient) pool, which is the larger, slow-moving, usually the abiotic portion, and an exchange (cycling) pool, the smaller, but more active portion concerned with the rapid exchange between the biotic and abiotic aspects of an ecosystem. Chemical elements such as coal deposits store carbon for a long period of time, making it a reservoir of carbon, while exchange pool consists of plants and animals, which uses carbon temporarily in their system and then release it back into the air or surrounding environment. Biogeochemical cycles can also be classified as gaseous and sedimentary. When biogeochemical cycles are considered as gaseous, the reservoir is the air or the oceans (via evaporation), while biogeochemical cycles are considered sedimentary when the reservoir is the Earths crust. Gaseous cycles include those such as nitrogen, oxygen, carbon and water and sedimentary cycles include those of iron, calcium, phosphorus and other earthbound elements. On hand, gaseous cycles move more rapidly in comparison to sedimentary cycles. Gaseous cycles also adjust more rapidly to changes in the biosphere because of the large atmospheric reservoir. On the other hand, sedimentary cycles vary from one element to another, but each cycle consists fundamentally of a solution phase and a rock (sediment) phase. Some of the most well-known and important biogeochemical cycles include the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, oxygen cycle, phosphorus cycle, and the water cycle.

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Bio-Geo-Chemical Cycles in the Environment

Carbon Cycle A number of reservoirs are available for carbon, such as the atmosphere, where carbon exists as a free gas or is in the form carbon dioxide (CO 2), fossil organic deposits such as oil and coal, and durable organic materials such as cellulose. Mineral carbonates, such as limestone, are a significant geological sink for carbon. During the process of the cycle, carbon is attached to oxygen in a gas called carbon dioxide (CO2). With the help of the sun and photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is pulled from the air to make plant food from carbon. Animals then obtain their requirement from carbon, in the form of carbon-based molecules, by eating plants and other animals. As these plants and animals die, their bodies decompose, moving the carbon into the ground, some of which may be buried underground for a long period of time until they become fossil fuels. As for the other animals and plants still living, carbon dioxide is released from their body through a process called respiration; as for humans, release of carbon dioxide takes place as we exhale. Carbon dioxide that is released from plants, animals and humans are then transferred again to the atmosphere. Oceans, and other bodies of water, also obtain some carbon from the atmosphere. Carbon Cycle

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Bio-Geo-Chemical Cycles in the Environment

Nitrogen Cycle Most of the nitrogen, in the form of nitrogen gas (N2), on Earth is in the atmosphere. All plants and animals need nitrogen to make amino acids, proteins and DNA, but the average organism cannot use atmospheric nitrogen for these tasks and as a result is dependent on the nitrogen cycle as a source for its usable nitrogen. Nitrogen in the atmosphere can become usable for living things when they are broken apart during nitrogen fixation by lightning and UV radiation. After nitrogen fixation takes place, nitrification occurs, wherein ammonia is converted in nitrite, then to nitrate. Plants then absorb ammonia and nitrate and incorporate it into their metabolic pathways. As nitrogen enters the plant metabolic pathway, nitrogen may be transferred to animals when the plant is consumed. Nitrogen is released back into the cycle when nitrate is converted back to nitrogen gas in the process called denitrification, wherein conversion of organic compounds back into ammonia in the process of ammonification, or when animals excrete ammonia, urea, or uric acid. Nitrogen Cycle

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Bio-Geo-Chemical Cycles in the Environment

Oxygen Cycle The oxygen cycles describes the movement of oxygen within and between its three main reservoirs: the atmosphere, biosphere and lithosphere (the crust and uppermost layer of the mantle). Oxygen cycle is mainly driven by photosynthesis, which is responsible for Earths atmosphere and life as it is today. Oxygen Cycle

Phosphorus Cycle Phosphorus cycle is one of the slowest biogeochemical cycles. Phosphorus mainly cycles through water, soil and sediments. Phosphate is most often in the form of phosphate salts, which is released from weathered rock and dissolved in ground water where the plants then consumes it. As phosphorus cycles through plants and animals, the cycle speeds up a little, although after the plants and animals decompose, phosphorus then returns again to the soil and sediments then eventually locked back into rocks again. Phosphorus Cycle

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Bio-Geo-Chemical Cycles in the Environment

Water Cycle The majority of water in the water cycle can be found in the different bodies of water, polar ice caps, frozen in glaciers, in ground as groundwater and even in bodies of organisms. Water then moves freely between these reservoirs by precipitation, infiltration, evaporation and condensation. Precipitation is falling of water in any form to Earth. Infiltration is the process in which water is absorbed into the soil while evaporation occurs either when water is heated or when plants use water and turn it into water vapor. The cycle comes at full when condensation occurs, which is when water vapor cools and forms clouds.

Water Cycle

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Bio-Geo-Chemical Cycles in the Environment

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