1. Cycles of Matter
Matter is the substance that all objects are made of. Matter flows through an ecosystem in a cycle.

2. Matter Living and nonliving things are both made up of matter.
Energy flows in one direction (trophic levels).
Matter flows in cycles.
Matter can cycle because biological systems do not use up matter, they transform it = Law of Conservation of Matter.

3. Water Cycle All living things require water to survive
Water enters atmosphere via evaporation (liquid to gas) and transpiration (evaporating from plant leaves).
Water returns to earth in precipitation.

4. Nutrient Cycles
The chemicals that an organism needs to sustain life are its nutrients.
Nutrients are used to build tissue and maintain life
Nutrients, like water, cycle between organisms and the environment.
Autotrophs acquire most of their nutrients from inorganic substances in the environment.
Heterotrophs acquire their nutrients by eating other organisms.

5. Carbon Cycle Carbon is a key ingredient of living tissue
Carbon enters the atmosphere via:
Respiration
Volcanism
Human activities – mining, burning forests, fossil fuels
Carbon is used in photosynthesis to make oxygen.
Decomposing living organisms store carbon in the ground and become coal and petroleum (fossil fuels).

6. Carbonate Rocks Photosynthesis Volcanic activity feeding Respiration
Erosion
Human activity
Respiration
Decomposition
Uplift
Carbon is found in several large reservoirs in the biosphere. In the atmosphere, it is found as carbon dioxide gas; in the oceans as dissolved carbon dioxide; on land in organisms, rocks, and soil; and underground as coal, petroleum, and calcium carbonate rock. 
Deposition
Photosynthesis
feeding
Fossil fuel
Deposition
Carbonate Rocks

7. Nitrogen Cycle All organisms require nitrogen to make amino acids.
Which are required to make…
Nitrogen gas (N2) makes up over 78% of Earth’s atmosphere, but only certain types of bacteria can use this form directly.
These bacteria live on the roots of plants such as legumes. They convert nitrogen gas to ammonia (NH3), which is usable by plants, in a process called nitrogen fixation.
Nitrogen fixation is essential for life as we know it.

8. Nitrogen Cycle
Other bacteria in the soil convert ammonia into nitrates (NO3-) and nitrites (NO2-).
Producers can use these to make proteins.
Consumers then eat the producers and reuse the nitrogen to make their own proteins.
Other soil bacteria convert nitrates into nitrogen gas in a process called denitrification.
This process releases nitrogen into the atmosphere once again.

9. NH3 N2 in Atmosphere NO3 and NO2 Synthetic fertilizer manufacturer
Atmospheric nitrogen fixation
Denitrification
Uptake by producers
Reuse by consumers
Uptake by producers
Reuse by consumers
The atmosphere is the main reservoir of nitrogen in the biosphere. Nitrogen also cycles through the soil and through the tissues of living organisms. 
Decomposition, excretion
Decomposition, excretion
Bacterial nitrogen fixation
NO3 and NO2
NH3

11. Nitrogen – We all need our fix
Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)
Living in nitrogen poor swamps and bogs, the Venus Flytrap augments its diet by consuming nitrogen rich animals.
The terminal leaves are modified to have cilia and a touch-sensitive rapid response mechanism.
The plant then digests its prey with enzymes and reduces its prey to a husk of chitin.

12. Phosphorous Cycle
Phosphorous is essential to living things because it helps us synthesize DNA and RNA.
Most phosphorus exists in the form of inorganic phosphate. Inorganic phosphate is released into the soil and water as sediments wear down.
Phosphate eventually enters the ocean where it is used by marine organisms.
Some phosphate stays on land and cycles between organisms and the soil. Plants bind the phosphates into organic compounds.

13. Phosphorous Cycle
Organic phosphate moves through the food web and to the rest of the ecosystem.
The primary productivity of an ecosystem is the rate at which organic matter is created by producers.
One factor that controls the primary productivity of an ecosystem is the amount of available nutrients.
Organisms
Phosphorus in the biosphere cycles among the land, ocean sediments, and living organisms.
Land
Ocean
Sediments

14. Nutrient Limitation
If a nutrient is in short supply, it will limit an organism's growth.
When an ecosystem is limited by a single nutrient that is scarce or cycles very slowly, this substance is called a limiting nutrient.
When an aquatic ecosystem receives a large input of a limiting nutrient—such as runoff from heavily fertilized fields—the result is often an immediate increase in the amount of algae and other producers.
This result is called an algal bloom.
Algal blooms can disrupt the equilibrium of an ecosystem.

15. Algal Bloom
Algal bloom in Gulf of Mexico, emptying from Mississippi River, as seen from Space.
This type of area is considered a ‘dead zone’ because the massive amount of algae deplete the area of oxygen leaving it completely devoid of marine life.
Why do you think this is occurring here?
How could this be prevented in the future?

16. Bell Ringer 1. Transpiration is part of the
A. water cycle.
B. carbon cycle.
C. nitrogen cycle.
D. phosphorus cycle.
2. Nitrates are converted into N2 (Nitrogen gas) by the process of
A. nitrogen fixation.
B. denitrification.
C. decomposition and excretion.
D. reuse by consumers.
3. When an aquatic ecosystem receives a large input of a limiting nutrient, the result is
A. runoff.
B. more primary productivity.
C. algal bloom.
D. less primary productivity.