1. The Story of Nitrogen Cycling Through the Environment Read the story together and answer the questions at the end.

2. Buffalo lived on the grasslands of East Africa for many years. One day he died of old age. He fell to his knees, then rolled heavily onto the ground. The little white cattle egrets fluttered away to look for insects where it was safer.

3. Hyena arrived and ate some Buffalo meat. Some of Buffalo's blood soaked into the soil, and some blood dried into the air. Buffalo Soil nitrogen

4. There were many kinds of atoms in Buffalo's blood. Iron and Nitrogen were two kinds. Some atoms of each entered the soil, dissolved into ground water, and were absorbed by Fig Tree's roots. Some atoms of Nitrogen and some atoms of iron are used by Fig Tree to grow a delicious fruit called a fig. Buffalo Soil nitrogen Tree

5. Hornbill comes to Fig Tree and eats that fig. Hornbill needed both iron and nitrogen just then to help build proteins in his body, so he made them both part of his flesh. Buffalo Soil nitrogen Tree nitrogen Hornbill

6. One night, after a long and fruitful life, Hornbill dies and falls out of the tall tree where he was roosting. He falls 200 feet down to the forest floor. Civet looks for food at night, and she hears the "plump" of Hornbill hitting the soft soil. Civet is happy. Tonight she will eat well, and so will her cubs when she returns to the den. The next morning, Civet walks away from her den, and leaves some droppings. Buffalo Soil nitrogen Tree nitrogen Hornbill nitrogen Civet

7. Dung Beetle finds Civet's dropping. Lots of good stuff in here! Dung Beetle makes a ball of some of the droppings and rolls it away. Later he eats some, and some atoms of nitrogen that Civet didn't use go into Dung Beetle's blood. Nitrogen is needed by all living beings to make proteins and the nucleus of cells. So the nitrogen from Buffalo by way of Fig by way of Hornbill by way of Civet made its way into Dung Beetle's wonderful horn, to make it strong. After Dung Beetle has lived a long and useful life cleaning up after the animals, he dies of old age in a family's little garden patch near the forest. BuffaloSoil nitrogen Tree nitrogen Hornbill nitrogen Civet Beetle

8. Bacteria and fungi decompose Dung Beetle, and the nitrogen in his horn is freed into the soil of the garden patch. BuffaloSoil nitrogen Tree nitrogen Hornbill nitrogen Civet Beetle nitrogen Bacteria & Fungi

9. Among other things, the family is growing peanuts. On the roots of peanut plants are little nodules filled with nitrogen- fixing bacteria which grab the freed nitrogen and send it upstairs to the growing part of the plant, where it becomes part of the peanut flower. So out of lowly dung has come beauty, for the ten billionth time. BuffaloSoil nitrogen Tree nitrogen Hornbill nitrogen Civet Beetle nitrogen Bacteria & Fungi nitrogen Peanut plant

10. List at least two possibilities of where the nitrogen may go after the pea plant dies. BuffaloSoil nitrogen Tree nitrogen Hornbill nitrogen Civet Beetle nitrogen Bacteria & Fungi nitrogen Peanut plant

11. BuffaloSoil nitrogen Tree nitrogen Hornbill nitrogen Civet Beetle nitrogen Bacteria & Fungi nitrogen Peanut plant How could we make this Nitrogen Cycle from the story into a full circle back to a buffalo?

12. What do our bodies need Nitrogen for?

13. Challenge Question: Nitrogen is used often in fertilizers which plants love. What would happen to the plants in a pond if someone used too much nitrogen fertilizer near the pond? (This often happens in golf course ponds.)

14. Write a story showing how Nitrogen from a blade of grass in Michigan could be recycled to an alligator in Florida.