Unit 3 - Energy and Matter

Unit 3 - Matter and Energy

Biogeochemical Cycles

Recycling in the Biosphere

• Matter is recycled within and between the ecosystems

  Biochemical cycles: how matter is passed from one organism to another and from one part of the biosphere to another

  Biological systems do not use up matter, they transform it:

  o  Assembled into living tissue

  o  Passed out of the body as waste products 

Fill in the Blank

Define biogeochemical cycle

Introduction to the Cycles

• Organisms need water, minerals, and other compounds too

• 95% of most organisms are made up of just 4 element:

• Oxygen

• Carbon

• Hydrogen

• Nitrogen

Fill in the Blank

What are the four most common elements found in organisms?

Fill in the Blank

What happens to matter within an ecosystem?

The Water Cycle (continued)

• As warm moist air rises it cools and forms clouds

• When the droplets become large enough, the water returns to Earth’s surface in the form of precipitation

• The rain eventually enters a river or stream, and then runs off to the ocean;

  Some of the rain seeps into the soil, some goes to ground water, while some is absorbed by plants 

The Water Cycle

• All living things require water

• Water moves between the ocean, atmosphere, and land

• Evaporation is the process where water changes from liquid form to an atmospheric gas

• Water can also enter the atmosphere by evaporating from leaves of a plant in the process of transpiration

Nutrient Cycles

• All the chemical substances that an organism needs to sustain life are its nutrient

• Primary producers usually obtain nutrients in simple inorganic forms from their environment 

• Consumers obtain nutrients from eating other organisms 

  ·  Three important cycles are:

  o  Carbon cycle

  o  Nitrogen cycle

  o  Phosphorus cycle 

Carbon Cycle

• Carbon is a key ingredient of living tissue

• Four main types of processes move carbon through its cycle:

  o  Biological process: photosynthesis, respiration, and decomposition take up & release CO2 and O2

  o  Geochemical processes, such as erosion and volcanic activity release CO2 into the atmosphere and oceans     

  o  Mixed biogeochemical:

  ** Burial and decomposition of dead organisms

  ** processes, how coal and oil was made

  o  Human activities, mining, burning fossil fuels release CO2 

Fill in the Blank

What are the four main types of processes that move carbon through its cycle?

Click on each step of the Carbon Cycle to see where the Carbon goes