1. Cycles Within an Ecosystem

2. Law of Conservation of Matter
Matter is ________________ Created or _________________ but ______________________into something else.

3. The Hydrogen atoms and Oxygen atoms that were here on Earth in the beginning are still here and will never leave, unless they are transported away in a space ship and not on Earth anymore.

5. Carbon: An element that acts as a building block for many compounds necessary for life.
Do organisms make their own carbon? How do we get carbon into our bodies? Remember the tree? How did it gain its mass?

6. Carbon is found in:
1. Atmosphere: as CO2 gas, and CH4 methane gas (greenhouse gases) 2. Biosphere: living organisms (photosynthesis and respiration) 3. Hydrosphere: (oceans, rivers, lakes) CO2 dissolved in H2O and shells 4. Lithosphere: (rocks and soil) diamonds, coal, mantle, fossil fuels

7. Carbon can be stored or used (released)
Carbon Sources: where it is emitted
(more is released and less is stored)
Carbon Sinks: where it is stored (more is absorbed, less is released)

8. Carbon sinks and Carbon Sources

9.  Actions by humans have resulted in the removal of carbon from carbon sinks (such as the oil and coal deposits mentioned above), directly adding it to the atmosphere. This has been most notable since the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th Century.

11. Carbon is recycled from other living organisms, sedimentary rocks (fossil fuel deposits), and the atmosphere (CO2).
1. Flowing water erodes and dissolves carbon in sedimentary rock, which often times ends up in the ocean. 2. Once in the ocean, carbon can be stored up for thousands of years or more, dissolved in the water. CO2 is released into the air when water temperatures rise. 3. Carbon is used by oceanic organisms to make strong outer shells, which sinks to the ocean floor when they die, forming limestone rock 4. CO2 is released when limestone is heated during the production of cement 5. Respiration and photosynthesis cycle carbon through the atmosphere and inside organisms (that’s how we get our mass) 6. CO2 is given off when an organism dies and is decomposed

12. Carbon is recycled from other living organisms, sedimentary rocks (fossil fuel deposits), and the atmosphere (CO2).
7. Burning organic material such as fossil fuels release CO2 8. Volcanoes erupting release large amounts of CO2 into the air that was stored in the mantle 9. CO2 is released when limestone is heated during the production of cement 4. CO2 is given off when an organism dies and is decomposed 5. Burning organic material such as fossil fuels release CO2 6. Volcanoes erupting release large amounts of CO2 into the air that was stored in the mantle

13. Carbon Cycle

14. What happens when we mess with the balance of these cycles?
There is more CO2 in our atmosphere today because of many human activities:
1. Burning fossil fuels
2. Cutting forests and clearing land of vegetation (burning vegetation)
Nothing in nature exists in isolation!
Changes to an ecosystem affect the stability of cycling matter and the flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of that ecosystem.