Download Carbon Cycle

Chapter 4-3: Cycling of Matter
What is the water cycle?
Why are plants and animals important for
carbon and oxygen in an ecosystem?
Why must nitrogen cycle through an
ecosystem?
Why must phosphorus cycle through an
ecosystem?
Carbon Cycle
• Carbon is an essential component of proteins,
carbohydrates and fats
• C is cycled between the atmosphere, land, water
and organisms – continuously
• Finite amount of carbon – must be reused
• Producers obtain CO2 and turn it into organic
compounds using photosynthesis
Fuel
• Producers (plants) and consumers use
carbohydrates as fuel and release CO2
• Carbohydrates are used for
– 1. provide fuel (energy),
– 2. biomass (growth,cells,materials) and
– 3. waste (chemical and heat).
.
Short term Carbon cycle
• Short term cycle 
1. CO2 in air/water
2. into plants;
3. photosynthesis4. Makes carbohydrates
5. consumed
6. respiration (back to CO2 )
7. and biomass
8. food web
Long term Carbon cycle
• Long term cycle 
carbonates are added
to the soil and lakes
and fossil fuels can be
created with pressure
over geologic time
Other impacts
• Natural burning (forest fires) release CO2
into atmosphere
• Power plant, factory and vehicle emissions
also release CO2 into atmosphere.
• Cars = 1/3 of CO2 emissions (overall total
6 billion metric tons)
Fossil Fuels
• Fossil fuels are made from fossilized trees
and animals and shells…
• Hard to make/ remake when used up –
because
• Not a short term situation…. Don’t let the
pictures fool you into thinking that road-kill
becomes carbon in the soil….and its
instantly a fossil
CLIMATE CHANGE vs.
GLOBAL WARMING
• Climate change
means the there is an
overall, long term
change in the
climate….more
storms, more draught,
higher temps as well
as colder
temps….more
extremes in
conditions
• Global warming would
apply to areas that
are getting warmer.
• There is a lot more
going on.
– Some changes due to
activities of man
(pollution, industry,
deforestation….)
– Some changes may
be part of natural cycle
NITROGEN CYCLE
• All organisms need nitrogen to build amino
acids so they can make proteins.
• Cells are composed of proteins –
“Everything in the cell either is protein or is
run by a protein”
• N is also found in the nucleic acids (ATCG
and U) that make up DNA
Atmospheric Nitrogen
• 78% of atmospheric gases are nitrogen
• Atmospheric nitrogen (N2 gas) is not
usable by most organisms
• Organisms that can “fix” N2 into usable
formats are called Nitrogen fixing bacteria.
Nitrogen Fixation
• Nitrogen fixing bacteria are crucial to the
nitrogen cycle.
• Bacteria take N2 gas from the atmosphere and
turn it into usable molecules
• Nitrogen fixing bacteria have symbiotic
relationships with cells in the roots of legumes
(beans, peas & clover --soybeans & hay)
• N2 is turned into nitrates and nitrites (NO2 and
NO3)
• Nitrates and nitrites are released into the soil
Plants and nitrogen
• Plants that are not legumes get NO2 and NO3
from soil and use it to build proteins
• Decomposers break down waste, urine, dead
leaves, decaying organisms…. Into nitrogen
sources. (ammonia, NH3, NH4+ and some
gaseous N2)
• Lightening strikes can also convert N to usable
forms
Assimilation, Ammonification, etc.
• The process by which organisms get nitrogen
– Plants assimilate nitrogen from the soil into the
organic compounds they produce
– Animals (heterotrophs) assimilate nitrogen that is in
the amino acids and nucleic acids they eat from
producers into their own body mass.
• Ammonification is the process where nitrogen
containing compounds are broken down and
released from waste or decay (turned to NH4)
• Nitrification – converts ammonia to NO3 and NO2
• Denitrification – takes NO3 and NO2 and turns it
back into nitrogen gas in the atmosphere
Water Cycle
• Water has to move to and from the atmosphere,
land and bodies of water.
• Water is also found under the surface as ground
water.
• Water in lakes, streams, rivers, oceans,
wetlands and puddles is called surface water
• ¾ of the surface of the globe is covered in water
• Only % of it is fresh water (the rest of it is
marine=salty)….most of North America’s fresh
water is in the Great lakes region
Flow of Water
• Solid, liquid and gas (vapor) forms
• Land, ice, bodies of water, the atmosphere
and LIVING ORGANSIMS
• Physical factors like temperature,
temperature differences, wind and
pressure impact water flow.
Water cycle terms
• Precipitation any form of water that
falls from the clouds to the earth (rain, snow,
sleet and hail)
• Transpiration the process by which
plants release water vapor to the air from
their stomata
• Evaporation water changing state from
liquid to vapor (gas)
• Water vapor water in a gas form
More vocabulary
• Run-off water that falls on a solid
surface and then is absorbed into the soil
or moves toward a river/ body of water
• Percolation the process of water being
absorbed into the soil/becoming ground
water
• Ground water
Water Cycle
•
•
•
•
Water in the atmosphere (clouds)
Change in temp and/or pressure
Precipitates
Falls on
– Land and percolates into soil (not just in soil but also
springs and water table)
– Land and is run-off; goes toward body of water
– Water and stays
• Water evaporates from surface of lake/ocean
• Water back in atmosphere
•
•
•
•
Water is used by plants
Required for photosynthesis
6CO2 + 6H2O
C6H12O6 + 6O2
Water is a large component of all living
things – cytoplasm, blood, tissue, roots,
stems
• Water is needed for chemical reactions
like dehydration synthesis and hydrolysis