Nutrient Cycle Overview
What is the other name for nutrient cycles?
Biogeochemical cycles
What are types precipitation?
rain, snow, hail, sleet
In what process do plants remove carbon dioxide from the air?
photosynthesis
What percentage of the atmosphere that is made of nitrogen?
78%
How does water from lakes and oceans re-enter the atmosphere?
Evaporation
A major component in ALL organic compounds
carbon
Why must nitrogen be "fixed"?
The N2 gas in the air is not in a form that is usable by plants or animals.
What is one thing all of these cycles have in common?
The constant movement of nutrients in the biosphere
The evaporation of water from stoma of plants is called _______.
What is transpiration?
How do carbon molecules enter the soil?
What is decomposition?
How do people get nitrogen?
By eating foods such as legumes (beans), nuts, seeds, dairy, eggs, and meat.
Why is oxygen cycling important?
People and animals require oxygen to breathe and sustain them. Thanks be to God, who gave us breath and designed an awesome cycle of renewing oxygen between plants and animals.
Three nutrients plants require for growth.
Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K)
What two things can happen with water after precipitation has returned it to the ground?
Infiltration and Surface Runoff
Give two primary ways carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere.
1) Respiration - Bacteria, animals, and people breathing.
2) Burning - Volcanic eruptions, forest fires, and fossil fuels all release carbon dioxide into the air.
Why is nitrogen so important for living things?
Nitrogen is used to make amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein, which makes up our very being.
How is most free oxygen released into the atmosphere?
By plants and phytoplankton (in the ocean) doing photosynthesis.
Give 3 reasons why plants are important in preventing soil erosion.
Plant roots hold soil in place. Plant foliage intercepts rain drops to prevent erosion. Plants drink storm water and hold it in the soil.
Where are the two primary places carbon is trapped?
1) the ocean
2) underground
What are 3 ways that nitrogen is fixed?
1) Nitrogen-fixing bacteria in nodules of legumes
2) Nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil
3) Lightning
Where is most of the earth's oxygen trapped?
In minerals in the earth.