1. Standard II-1, part 3- Biogeochemical Processes
Science AHSGE
Standard II-1, part 3- Biogeochemical Processes

2. Nutrients Nutrient- Substance necessary for life
Must obtain from the environment to sustain life and carry out life processes
Examples: Oxygen, water, carbon, nitrogen and phorphorous
Obtained in the form of elements and compounds from air, water, food, or soil
Biogeochemical Cycle- Involves living organisms (bio), geological processes (geo) and chemical processes (chemical)

3. Water Cycle
Hydrology- Study of water and the cycling of it through the environment
Sources: River, ocean, ponds/lakes, streams, aquifers, ice caps, or glaciers
Two types: Salt (ocean), fresh water (ponds, lakes, rivers, streams), brackish water (swamps, anywhere rivers empty into ocean)

4. Water Cycle
Two ways to get liquid from vapor: precipitation (snow, rain, sleet, hail), condensation (gas to a liquid)
Two ways to get water vapor from liquid: evaporation (liquid to a gas) and transpiration (loss of water from a plant through the stomata)
Runoff- Surface water continually moves until it reaches a water source
Infiltration- Water soaking into the ground
Water table- Point of saturation under the ground

6. Carbon and Oxygen Cycles
All living things composed of molecules containing carbon
Organic- Any substance containing carbon and oxygen
Carbon and oxygen are recycled quickly through living things
Autotrophs/producers- photosynthesis
Consumers/decomposers/heterotrophs- cellular (aerobic) respiration

7. Carbon and Oxygen Cycles
Carbon enters into cycle long term when buried underground and converted to peat, coal, oil, or natural gas deposits (millions of years)
Released back to the atmosphere as CO2 when fossil fuels are burned
Carbon and oxygen can enter a long-term cycle in the form of calcium carbonate (chalk) or limestone
Remain trapped in deposits until erosion occurs

8. Carbon and Oxygen Cycles

9. Nitrogen Cycle Element needed to produce proteins
Plants and animals can not use directly from atmosphere
Nitrogen Fixation
Nitrogen gas is captured by bacteria in air, soil, water and on the roots of some plants (legumes)
Converted into a useful form for plants
Nitrate- Inorganic nitrogen compound converted from ammonia
Energy from lightning bolts can also convert

10. Nitrogen Cycle
Plants absorb nitrates from soil and convert to proteins
Consumers get nitrogen from eating plants or other animals
Fixed nitrogen is in limited supply, so this element is a factor that limits the growth of producers

11. Nitrogen Cycle Nitrogen returns to soil:
Animal urination
Decomposers break down dead organisms into the nitrogen compound ammonia
Organisms in the soil convert ammonia into nitrogen compounds to be used by plants
Denitrification- Soil bacteria convert fixed nitrogen compounds back into nitrogen gas, which returns to the atmosphere

13. Phosphorus Cycle Essential for growth and development of organisms
Found in various compounds of cells
Large amounts concentrated in bones and teeth
Phosphorus, in the form of phosphates, are present in small amounts in soil and water
Often a factor that limits the growth of producers

14. Phosphorus Cycle Short-term cycle Long-term cycle
Cycled from soil to producers and then to consumers
Organisms die returning phosphorus to soil to be used again
Long-term cycle
Weathering or erosion of rocks containing phosphorus slowly add to the cycle

15. Phosphorus Cycle