Envi - Mod 13

SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
C-GEE1 ENVIROMENTAL SCIENCE

First Semester | AY 2022-2023
Module No. 13: The Biogeochemical Cycle

Time Frame: 1 Week
1. Overview
This is a three-hour module that present the driving force that sustain life on earth,
because of these continuous circulation and recycling of energy from one chemical element.
Naturally, all earth’s creatures depend on sun heat and energy to live and survive as well as
those different chemicals that are involve in recycling of nutrients.
Lesson Objectives:
At the end of this module the students are able to:

1. Identify the different kinds of elemental cycles that store, distribute and reuse
different chemical important to support life
2. Identify the different elements involve in the chemical cycle on earth (bio-geo
chemical cycle) and their important role in supporting the existence of life
2. Discussion:
Energy flows through the earth’s ecosystem enters in the form of sunlight and is
dissipated as heat, but chemical elements making up living organism are recycled.
 You may or may not believe in reincarnation as a spiritual concept, but there's
no question that atoms in your body have been part of a huge number of living
and nonliving things over the course of time!
For one thing, the atoms in your body are not brand new. Instead, they've been
cycling through the biosphere for a long, long time, and they've been part of many
organisms and nonliving compounds along the way.
The six most common elements making up an organic molecule are; carbon,
nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur which take a variety of chemical forms.
They can either be stored for long or short periods in the atmosphere, on land, in water, or
beneath the Earth’s surface, as well as in the bodies of living organisms. The ways in which
an element or compound such as water moves between its various living and nonliving
forms and locations in the biosphere is called a biogeochemical cycle.
The elements involve in the cycle and is important to living organisms includes the
water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur cycles. Ecosystem depend on the
cycling of these chemical nutrients. Just like an individual organism is alive, its chemical
stock is rotated continuously as nutrients are acquired and waste
products are released.
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/biogeochemical-cycles/a/introduction-to-biogeochemical-cycles
C-GEE1- ENVISCI: MOD13 BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE Ms. Alexcie Camille C. Luzano AY 2022-2023
Water Cycle
Majority of earth’s water is salt water found in oceans and seas. Only a small portion
is readily accessible freshwater which what humans need. The path of water through our
environment is the most common material cycle. The different process involve coverts
water into different phases.
 Solar heat continuously evaporates water

because of latent heat (absorb), winds
distribute water vapor around the globe, as
it cools because of the air temperature it
condenses and transform back into liquid
phase (latent heat release) in the form of
rain
 Aside from rain, other for of precipitation
are: snow, fog, hail, sleet
 As rain falls on to the ground large volume
goes back to the different water reservoir
like ocean, sea, river, lakes dams, part of it
infiltrates into the ground
Evaporation, sublimation, deposition, condensation,  Some of it is absorb by the plant roots,
transpiration, infiltration enters rock crevices
This cycle is very important, for all forms of living  Then the cycle repeats, where plants release
things needs water in varying amount to live. The moisture (transpiration) animals and
atmosphere needs to be moistened to make
human emits the moisture by respiration
circulating air refreshing and less hotter when it
comes in contact with the surface. This Hydrologic and perspiration and the evaporation.
cycle with the circulating air around the globe drive
the changes in weather pattern .(hydro-
meteorological cycle)
Carbon Cycle
Carbon is the major ingredient of all organic molecules and in the bodies of living
organisms. It is also economically important in the form of fossil fuels. Carbon is found in
the atmosphere as pat of the heat trapping gasses, release from earth surface due to
various activities of man.
Materials and places that serves as reservoir (carbon sinks) includes abiotic; the
ocean, geologic formations, standing forest and living organism (biotic). These carbon
reserves are expose and release from the sink is when burning/ using fossil fuel which at
the same time inject CO2 into the atmosphere (causes global warming), when clearing
extensive forest, various geological phenomena (volcanic eruptions, earthquakes -
tectonic and oceanic).
These carbon release either on water, land or air are use by plant for their growth at
the same time speeding the recycling process, that is why reforestation activities are
highly encourage. Carbon enters all food webs, both terrestrial and aquatic,
through autotrophs, or self-feeders. Almost all of these autotrophs are
photosynthesizers, such as plants or algae. An estimated 1,000 to 100,000 million metric
tons of carbon move through the biological pathway each year. (metric ton is about the
weight of an elephant or a small car). Enormous amount of carbon are locked up at CaCO3
used to build shell and skeleton of marine organism (protozoans to corals) and when
these creatures die they form a carbonaceous deposits in the form of lime stones
Carbon can cycle quickly through biological pathway, especially in aquatic
ecosystems rather than geological pathway of the carbon cycle takes much longer than
the biological pathway. It usually takes millions of years for carbon to cycle through the
geological pathway. Carbon may be stored for long periods of time in the atmosphere,
bodies of liquid water—mostly oceans— ocean sediment, soil, rocks, fossil fuels, and
Earth’s interior.
Phosphorus cycle
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/biogeochemical-cycles/a/the-
phosphorous-cycle
All important minerals are made available after they being released from rocks. Two
of these minerals are particularly significance to organism are phosphorus and sulfur.
Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for living organisms. In molecular level it’s a key
part of nucleic acids, like DNA and of the phospholipids that form our cell membranes. As
calcium phosphate, it also makes up the supportive components of our bones.
In nature, phosphorus is often the limiting nutrient—in other words, the nutrient
that’s in shortest supply and puts a limit on growth—and this is particularly true for
aquatic, freshwater ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystem has abundant and excess phosphorus
supply that can stimulates lush plant growth and algal growth/algal bloom explosive
growth of photosynthetic bacteria populations and thus contributing to water pollution.
Deep ocean sediments are significant phosphorus sink of extreme longevity. Phosphate ores
are mine to make detergents and inorganic fertilizers.
Phosphorus has no atmospheric form, it is usually transported in water after it

leached from rocks and minerals. Producers take in phosphorus, incorporate it into organic
molecule and then passes on to consumers, then phosphorus return back to the
environment by decomposition.
This process takes a long time for the phosphorus atom to pass thru it.
When nitrogen and

phosphorus from fertilizer are
carried in runoff to lakes and
oceans, they can
cause eutrophication (gradual
increase of P and N, the
overgrowth of algae. The algae
may deplete oxygen from the
water and create a dead zone.
Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen is everywhere! It makes up about 78% of Earth's atmosphere by volume,
far surpassing the oxygen. It exists in the atmosphere as gas. In nitrogen fixation, bacteria
convert N2 into ammonia, a form of nitrogen usable by plants. When animals eat the plants,
they acquire usable nitrogen compounds.
Having nitrogen around and being able to make use of it are two different things.
Your body, and the bodies of other plants and animals, have no good way to convert into a
usable form. Plants and animal don’t just have the right enzyme to capture or fix
atmospheric nitrogen, unlike the Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria.
Nitrogen-fixing microorganisms capture atmospheric nitrogen by converting it to
ammonia (NH3) which can be taken up by plants and used to make organic molecules. The
nitrogen-containing molecules are passed to animals when the plants are eaten. They may
be incorporated into the animal's body or broken down and excreted as waste, such as the
urea found in urine.
Nitrogen doesn't remain forever in the bodies of living organisms. Instead, it's
converted from organic nitrogen back into gas by bacteria. This process often involves
several steps in terrestrial and or land ecosystems. Nitrogenous compounds from dead
organisms or wastes are converted into ammonia (NH3) by bacteria, and the ammonia is
converted into nitrites (NO2) and nitrates (NO3).
In the ecosystems, many processes, such as primary production and decomposition,
are limited by the available supply of nitrogen. In other words, nitrogen is often
the limiting nutrient, the nutrient that's in shortest supply and thus limits the growth of
organisms or populations.
 When a nutrient is limiting, adding more of it will increase growth—e.g., it will

cause plants to grow taller than if nothing were added.
 If a non-limiting nutrient is instead added, it won't have an effect—e. g., plants
will grow to the same height whether the nutrient is present or absent.
 Nitrogen and phosphorus are the two most common limiting nutrients in
both natural ecosystems and agriculture. That's why, if you look at a bag of
fertilizer, you will see it contains a lot of nitrogen and phosphorus.
Sulfur Cycle https://microbenotes.com/sulfur-cycle/
The sulfur cycle describes the movement of sulfur through the atmosphere,
mineral forms, and through living things. Although sulfur is primarily found in
sedimentary rocks or sea water, it is particularly important to living things because
it is an essential component of many proteins. It also serves as important
determinants of rainfall acidity, surface water and soil. Sulfur in particles and tiny
air borne droplets may acts critical indicators of global climate.
Sulfur is released from geologic sources through the weathering of rock,
emission from deep sea vents and volcanic eruption in air and water. Once sulfur is
exposed to the air, it combines with oxygen, and becomes sulfate SO 4. Plants and
microbes assimilate sulfate and convert it into organic forms. As animals consume
plants, the sulfur is moved through the food chain and released when organisms die
and decompose.
The sulfur cycle is complicated by several number of oxidation states that
the element can assume: Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), sulfur dioxide (SO2), sulfate ion
(SO2-2), and sulfate SO4, inorganic processes are involving in these transformations.
The sulfur cycle consists of both the terrestrial and atmospheric processes;
however, most of it remains in the lithosphere. Human activities also release large
quantities of sulfur by burning fossil fuel that affect the concentration of sulfur on
Earth as well as the addition of sulfur-containing fertilizers to the soil.
Unlike inorganic phosphorus compounds, sulfur molecules are usually more
soluble in water which increases their availability to plants and microorganisms
found in soil. Once the sulfur reaches the terrestrial and aquatic biosphere, it is
taken up by plants and microorganisms.
A group of bacteria called the green sulfur bacteria, act as

photoautotrophic bacteria, and utilize sulfur as a form of energy. Other
microorganisms in the soil also aid in making sulfur available to plants so that it can
be taken up with water from the soil.
The sulfur taken up by living beings is then used in the formation of biomolecules
like proteins and nucleotides. In the ocean ecosystem, chemoautotrophic
microorganisms utilize sulfur to produce organic compounds in the form of
sulfates.
3. Progress Check:
Make an outline of the different processes involve with these biogeochemical cycles
4. Evaluation
On-line exam: Google Form
References
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/biogeochemical-
cycles/a/introduction-to-biogeochemical-cycles
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/biogeochemical-cycles/v/the-
carbon -cycle
water-cycle
nitrogen-cycle
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/biogeochemical-cycles/a/the-
phosphorous-cycle
sulfur –cycle
https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Microbiology/Book%3A_Microbiology_(boundless)/
16%3A_Microbial_Ecology/16.4%3A_Nutrient_Cycles/16.4F%3A_The_Sulfur_Cycle

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SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

C-GEE1 ENVIROMENTAL SCIENCE

Module No. 13: The Biogeochemical Cycle

At the end of this module the students are able to:

 Solar heat continuously evaporates water

Phosphorus has no atmospheric form, it is usually transported in water after it

When nitrogen and

 When a nutrient is limiting, adding more of it will increase growth—e.g., it will

Sulfur Cycle https://microbenotes.com/sulfur-cycle/

A group of bacteria called the green sulfur bacteria, act as

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