BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES Law of Conservation of Matter – matter cannot be created or destroyed but it can be rearranged Matter is constantly moving between the living and nonliving world.

Questions to answer: How are the cycles for different kinds of matter similar? How are they different? What cycles do I need to know? 1.Water cycle (hydrologic) 2.Carbon cycle 3.Nitrogen cycle 4.Phosphorus

Questions to answer: What processes move matter (nutrients) through the ecosystem and biosphere? Bio = life Geo = earth Chem = chemical

Questions to answer: What do I already know about this? MATTER? Examples: Pathway: PROCESSES?

Vocabulary Recall Organic compound – contains carbon, large molecules; ex. carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids Inorganic compound – small molecules, do not need to contain carbon; ex. water, carbon dioxide

Vocabulary Recall Biotic factor – a living thing,ex. plant, animal, fungus, protist, bacterium Abiotic factor – a nonliving thing, ex. light, moisture, wind, temperature

GENERAL MODEL OF NUTRIENT CYCLING Organic materials: available as nutrients Biotic: living things, detritus (decaying organic matter) Organic material: unavailable as nutrients Coal, oil, peat Inorganic materials: unavailable as nutrients Minerals in rocks Inorganic materials: available as nutrients Abiotic: soil, atmosphere, water

RESERVOIR Areas in the environment where significant amounts of an element are found Ex. one of nitrogen’s reservoirs is the atmosphere Ex. one of carbon’s reservoir is the bodies of living things HOW did I represent the reservoirs in the previous slides?

PROCESS: PHOTOSYNTHESIS A complex series of chemical reactions carried out by plants and algae Requires chlorophyll (a green pigment) and chloroplasts (organelles within cells) Organic compounds such as GLUCOSE are built from inorganic compounds – WATER AND CARBON DIOXIDE LIGHT supplies the ENERGY for this REARRANGEMENT OF MATTER

PROCESS: PHOTOSYNTHESIS 6 CO H 2 O  C 6 H 12 O O 2 carbon water glucose oxygen dioxide (food) LIGHT

PROCESS: PHOTOSYNTHESIS 6 CO H 2 O  C 6 H 12 O O 2 carbon water glucose oxygen dioxide (food) reactants products LIGHT

PROCESS: RESPIRATION Complex series of chemical reactions carried out by all cells Requires mitochondria (organelles within cells) FOOD (organic compounds such as GLUCOSE) is broken down into inorganic compounds – WATER AND CARBON Potential ENERGY stored in chemical bonds of food is TRANSFERRED to a form cells can use for energy - a molecule called ATP

PROCESS: RESPIRATION C 6 H 12 O O 2  6 CO H 2 O glucose oxygen carbon water (food) dioxide reactants products Does this look familiar?

PROCESS: RESPIRATION CELLULAR RESPIRATION is NOT THE SAME THING AS BREATHING.

PROCESS: DECOMPOSITION Series of chemical reactions in which decomposers break down large organic compounds into smaller inorganic compounds The decomposers – FUNGI AND BACTERIA – are using dead organisms for food THEREFORE, the decomposers and fungi are carrying out CELLULAR RESPIRATION!

PROCESSES: EXCRETION WASTE PRODUCTS Examples: urine, feces

PROCESSES: FOSSILIZATION Fossils - remains of organisms that lived in the past In the case of coal and oil, plants died and were covered by sediments Heat, pressure, and time released most of the elements except CARBON AND HYDORGEN Coal and oil are “hydrocarbons” – they contain carbon and hydrogen that was once in a plant (Where were C & H before they were in the plant?)

PROCESSES: ROCK FORMATION, EROSION, WEATHERING Rock Formation – when layers of sediments are placed under pressure for long periods of time sedimentary rock forms Weathering – “BREAK DOWN” - wind, water, freezing and thawing, and chemical processes break rock back down into sediments

PROCESSES: ROCK FORMATION, EROSION, WEATHERING Erosion – “MOVEMENT TO ANOTHER PLACE” - wind and water move sediments on the earth’s surface

HOW DOES THE MOVEMENT OF MATTER THROUGH THE BIOSPHERE (ECOSPHERE, ORGANISM, AND CELL) DIFFER FROM THE MOVEMENT OF ENERGY?

MATTERENERGY