Nitrogen Cycle

When a plant or animal dies, its tissues decompose, partly as a result of the action of saprotrophic
bacteria. One of the important products of the decay of animal and plant protein is ammonia (NH3, a
compound of nitrogen), which is washed into the soil (Figure 19.20). It dissolves readily in water to form
ammonium ions (NH4−).

The excretory products of animals contain nitrogenous waste products such as ammonia, urea and uric
acid. Urea is formed in the liver of humans as a result of deamination. The organic matter in animal
droppings is also decomposed by soil bacteria.

Processes that add nitrates to soil

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria

This is a special group of nitrifying bacteria that can absorb nitrogen as a gas from the air spaces in the
soil, and build it into compounds of ammonia. Nitrogen gas cannot itself be used by plants. When it has
been made into a compound of ammonia, however, it can easily be changed to nitrates by other
nitrifying bacteria. The process of building the gas, nitrogen, into compounds of ammonia is called
nitrogen fixation. Some of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria live freely in the soil. Others live in the roots of
leguminous plants (peas, beans, clover), where they cause swellings called root nodules (Figure 19.19).
These leguminous plants are able to thrive in soils where nitrates are scarce, because the nitrogen-fixing
bacteria in their nodules make compounds of nitrogen available for them. Leguminous plants are also
included in crop rotations to increase the nitrate content of the soil.

Lightning

The high temperature of lightning discharge causes some of the nitrogen and oxygen in the air to
combine and form oxides of nitrogen. These dissolve in the rain and are washed into the soil as weak
acids, where they form nitrates. Although several million tonnes of nitrate may reach the Earth’s surface
in this way each year, this forms only a small fraction of the total nitrogen being recycled.

Nitrifying bacteria

These are bacteria living in the soil, which use the ammonia from excretory products and decaying
organisms as a source of energy (as we use glucose in respiration). In the process of getting energy from
ammonia, called nitrification, the bacteria produce nitrates.

• The ‘nitrite’ bacteria oxidise ammonium compounds to nitrites (NH4−→NO2−)

• ‘Nitrate’ bacteria oxidise nitrites to nitrates (NO2−→NO3−).

Although plant roots can take up ammonia in the form of its compounds, they take up nitrates more
readily, so the nitrifying bacteria increase the fertility of the soil by making nitrates available to the
plants.

Processes that remove nitrates from the soil

Uptake by plants

Plant roots absorb nitrates from the soil and combine them with carbohydrates to make amino acids,
which are built up into proteins. These proteins are then available to animals, which feed on the plants
and digest the proteins in them.

Leaching

Nitrates are very soluble (i.e. dissolve easily in water), and as rainwater passes through the soil it
dissolves the nitrates and carries them away in the run-off or to deeper layers of the soil. This is called
leaching.

Denitrifying bacteria

These are bacteria that obtain their energy by breaking down nitrates to nitrogen gas, which then
escapes from the soil into the atmosphere. All of these processes are summed up in Figure 19.20.

The nitrogen in the air is absorb into the soil because plants cannot absorb nitrogen directly, it is built
into compounds of ammonia by the nitrogen fixing bacteria, the leguminous plants absorb the nitrogen
from the air by using its root nodules to help it grow. The ammonia produced by the nitrogen fixing
bacteria in the soil turns into ammonia compounds to nitrites to nitrates by the action of nitrifying
bacteria in the soil and the nitrate produced is absorbed to combine with carbohydrates to make amino
acids which are built up to make protein and the plants will be eaten by the animals to gain protein as
well, the excretion of the animal will create ammonia. The death of both the animals and plants will
create ammonia, all the ammonia created by excretion and decaying of the animals and plants will get
processed by the nitrifying bacteria which will become nitrates in the soil then it will get processed by
the denitrifying bacteria to be converted back into nitrogen to be released back into the air.