1. Recycling nutrients throughout the living environment.
Resource Cycles
Recycling nutrients throughout
the living environment.

2. Why are abiotic resources recycled?
Consider this:
“Neither energy nor matter can be created or destroyed.”—The First Law of Thermodynamics.
Water
Oxygen
Nitrogen
Carbon
Phosphorous

3. The Water Cycle Water cycles throughout the entire world.
Label the diagram on the right .
Condensation
Evaporation
Runoff
Infiltration
Water storage
in ocean
Underground water storage
Water table

4. The Water Cycle Water cycles throughout the entire world.
Some of the water reaching the ground will run along the surface of the land.
Some of the water will seep into the ground and be incorporated into the ground water.
Eventually, the water will be taken up by plants, or will make its way to a body of water.
Water is evaporated from areas of water collection such as lakes, oceans, or steams.
Water is also transpired from leaves of plants.
The evaporated water vapor condenses in the atmosphere.
After a period of time, precipitation occurs.

5. The Carbon Cycle Carbon cycles throughout the entire world.
Carbon is an essential building block of life.
Carbon can be found in the form of calcium carbonate in many things--from our bones to shells and many types of rocks.
Carbon often bonds with Oxygen to form Carbon Dioxide.
Plants take in CO2 during photosynthesis to make organic compounds.
Infiltration
Calcium Carbonate
Glycogen
Underground water storage

6. The Carbon Cycle Carbon cycles throughout the entire world.
Carbon dioxide is released by both plants and animals during cellular respiration.
Carbon dioxide is also released into the atmosphere through volcanic activity and human activities such as burning fossil fuels.
Infiltration
Underground water storage

7. The Carbon Cycle Carbon cycles throughout the entire world.
Plants use carbon in the process of photosynthesis to eventually make glucose, fructose, starches, cellulose, and a number of other organic molecules.
These organic molecules are the energy that will be passed throughout the ecosystem.
Infiltration
Underground water storage

8. The Carbon Cycle Carbon cycles throughout the entire world.
Mollusks use calcium carbonate to make their shells.
When these shells die, the calcium carbonate will eventually break down, and the carbon will return to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
Infiltration
Underground water storage

9. Amino Acids
Nitrogen is a necessary resource for the formation of amino acids, which are used to build _________________. Nitrogen is chemically modified into many different forms as it cycles throughout the biosphere. It can frequently be found in the form of ____________________, ______________________________, and _____________________, _____________________.
In order to be used by plants, nitrogen has to be converted into ammonia through a process called _______________________, which is performed by specialized ________________. Once the bacteria convert nitrogen to usable forms, producers can use them to make needed proteins, which are necessary for their life functions. When a consumer digests a plant, it will absorb the nitrogen and use it in its own body.
When an organism dies, it will release nitrogen to the soil as ______________________. This ammonia may be taken up again by the producers in the surrounding area.

10. Where is Nitrogen found?
Nitrogen is a needed resource for the formation of amino acids, which are necessary for the formation of proteins.
Nitrogen gas (N2) makes up 78 percent of Earth’s atmosphere.
Nitrogen is a necessary resource for the formation of amino acids, which are used to build _________________. Nitrogen is chemically modified into many different forms as it cycles throughout the biosphere. It can frequently be found in the form of ____________________, ______________________________, and _____________________, _____________________.
In order to be used by plants, nitrogen has to be converted into ammonia through a process called _______________________, which is performed by specialized ________________. Once the bacteria convert nitrogen to usable forms, producers can use them to make needed proteins, which are necessary for their life functions. When a consumer digests a plant, it will absorb the nitrogen and use it in its own body.
When an organism dies, it will release nitrogen to the soil as ______________________. This ammonia may be taken up again by the producers in the surrounding area.

11. Where is Nitrogen found?
Nitrogen is also found in waste products by many organisms and in decaying organic matter in the form of ammonia (NH3- ), Nitrate ions (NO3- ), and Nitrite ions (NO2- ).
Nitrogen is a necessary resource for the formation of amino acids, which are used to build _________________. Nitrogen is chemically modified into many different forms as it cycles throughout the biosphere. It can frequently be found in the form of ____________________, ______________________________, and _____________________, _____________________.
In order to be used by plants, nitrogen has to be converted into ammonia through a process called _______________________, which is performed by specialized ________________. Once the bacteria convert nitrogen to usable forms, producers can use them to make needed proteins, which are necessary for their life functions. When a consumer digests a plant, it will absorb the nitrogen and use it in its own body.
When an organism dies, it will release nitrogen to the soil as ______________________. This ammonia may be taken up again by the producers in the surrounding area.

12. The Nitrogen Cycle
In order for plants to be able to use nitrogen, it must first be ‘fixed’ as ammonia through a process called nitrogen fixation.
Nitrogen fixation is performed by specialized bacteria which form beneficial relationships with plants
Nitrogen is a necessary resource for the formation of amino acids, which are used to build _________________. Nitrogen is chemically modified into many different forms as it cycles throughout the biosphere. It can frequently be found in the form of ____________________, ______________________________, and _____________________, _____________________.
In order to be used by plants, nitrogen has to be converted into ammonia through a process called _______________________, which is performed by specialized ________________. Once the bacteria convert nitrogen to usable forms, producers can use them to make needed proteins, which are necessary for their life functions. When a consumer digests a plant, it will absorb the nitrogen and use it in its own body.
When an organism dies, it will release nitrogen to the soil as ______________________. This ammonia may be taken up again by the producers in the surrounding area.

13. The Nitrogen Cycle
When an organism dies, it will release nitrogen to the soil as ______________________. This ammonia may be taken up again by the producers in the surrounding area.

14. The Nitrogen Cycle
Once nitrogen is in the soil in the form of ammonia, other bacteria can convert it to nitrate or nitrite.
When these compounds are available in the soil, the producers can use them to grow.

15. The Nitrogen Cycle What are these animals actually eating?
When these animals die,
where will their nitrogen go?
When an organism dies, its various forms of nitrogen will return to soil as ammonia.

16. Navigate through this diagram of the nitrogen cycle.

17. Nutrient Limitation
Often, a nutrient can be determined to be insufficiently low in an ecosystem.
The deficient nutrient is called the limiting nutrient for the primary productivity of the ecosystem.
Ecologists assess the primary productivity of the soil in an area to determine if it is performing as good as it should be.
The primary productivity of an ecosystem is the rate at which organic matter is created by producers.
When ecologists study an ecosystem, they will often assess the primary productity. The primary productivity is the rate at which organic matter is created by producers. Often, a resource can be identified which is found at a low level. This resource stands as the as the ___________________ _______________________ for the primary productivity of the ecosystem.
Ecologists will often apply their knowledge of ecosystems and nutrient cycles to fix an identified deficiency for farmers who want to increase the productivity of their cropland. The use of fertilizers—which contain nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium—will allow the plants in a field to be more productive. However, the regular application of fertilizers has also had ____________________ ____________. In many cases, rainwater removes much of these newly added nutrients, and carries them to waterways. Within time, the accumulation of these added nutrients causes the ________________ in the aquatic ecosystems to reach an inappropriately high biomass. This condition is called _____________________.

18. Nutrient Limitation
If an ecosystem is deficient in a nutrient, farmers will often administer fertilizers.
Used correctly, fertilizers can increase the productivity of farmland.
Ecologists will often apply their knowledge of ecosystems and nutrient cycles to fix an identified deficiency for farmers who want to increase the productivity of their cropland. The use of fertilizers—which contain nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium—will allow the plants in a field to be more productive. However, the regular application of fertilizers has also had ____________________ ____________. In many cases, rainwater removes much of these newly added nutrients, and carries them to waterways. Within time, the accumulation of these added nutrients causes the ________________ in the aquatic ecosystems to reach an inappropriately high biomass. This condition is called _____________________.

19. Nutrient Limitation
If an ecosystem is deficient in a nutrient, farmers will often administer fertilizers.
Used incorrectly, fertilizers can cause environmental harm.
The regular application of fertilizers has negative effects.
Ecologists will often apply their knowledge of ecosystems and nutrient cycles to fix an identified deficiency for farmers who want to increase the productivity of their cropland. The use of fertilizers—which contain nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium—will allow the plants in a field to be more productive. However, the regular application of fertilizers has also had ____________________ ____________. In many cases, rainwater removes much of these newly added nutrients, and carries them to waterways. Within time, the accumulation of these added nutrients causes the ________________ in the aquatic ecosystems to reach an inappropriately high biomass. This condition is called _____________________.

20. Nutrient Limitation
When rainwater moves over areas that have been heavily fertilized, the unabsorbed nutrients will runoff with the water.
In time, the added nutrients from the fertilizers will accumulate in the water.
Ecologists will often apply their knowledge of ecosystems and nutrient cycles to fix an identified deficiency for farmers who want to increase the productivity of their cropland. The use of fertilizers—which contain nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium—will allow the plants in a field to be more productive. However, the regular application of fertilizers has also had ____________________ ____________. In many cases, rainwater removes much of these newly added nutrients, and carries them to waterways. Within time, the accumulation of these added nutrients causes the ________________ in the aquatic ecosystems to reach an inappropriately high biomass. This condition is called _____________________.

21. Nutrient Limitation
This causes the producers in the ecosystem to reach an inappropriately high biomass.
This is called algal bloom.
Ecologists will often apply their knowledge of ecosystems and nutrient cycles to fix an identified deficiency for farmers who want to increase the productivity of their cropland. The use of fertilizers—which contain nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium—will allow the plants in a field to be more productive. However, the regular application of fertilizers has also had ____________________ ____________. In many cases, rainwater removes much of these newly added nutrients, and carries them to waterways. Within time, the accumulation of these added nutrients causes the ________________ in the aquatic ecosystems to reach an inappropriately high biomass. This condition is called _____________________.