Environmental

Science
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Opening Prayer

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Attendance

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Lesson 3: The Material,
Hydrologic, Carbon, Nitrogen and
Phosphorus Cycles
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Material Cycles
- The water cycle distributes water among atmosphere,
biosphere, surface, and groundwater.
- Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus are among the essential
elements that also move through
biological, atmospheric, and earth systems (biogeochemical
cycles).
- Earth is the only planet in our solar system that provides a
suitable environment for life as we know it.

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- Maintenance of these conditions requires a constant recycling
of materials between the biotic(living) and abiotic (nonliving)
components of ecosystems.
Hydrologic Cycle
- The path of water through our environment.
- The most familiar material cycle.
- Water is responsible for metabolic processes within cells, for
maintaining the flows of key nutrients through ecosystem and
for global-scale distribution of heat and energy.

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Evaporation
As water is heated by the sun, surface molecules become sufficiently
energized to break free of the attractive force binding them together,
and then evaporate and rise as invisible vapor in the atmosphere.
Transpiration
Water vapor is also emitted from plant leaves by a process called
transpiration. Every day an actively growing plant transpires 5 to 10
times as much water as it can hold at once.

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Condensation
As water vapor rises, it cools and eventually condenses, usually on
tiny particles of dust in the air. When it condenses it becomes a
liquid again or turns directly into a solid (ice, hail or snow). These
water particles then collect and form clouds.
Precipitation
Precipitation in the form of rain, snow and hail comes from clouds.
Clouds move around the world, propelled by air currents. For
instance, when they rise

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over mountain ranges, they cool, becoming so saturated with water
that water begins to fall as rain, snow or hail, depending on the
temperature of the surrounding air.
Runoff
Excessive rain or snowmelt can produce overland flow to creeks and
ditches. Runoff is visible flow of water in rivers, creeks and lakes as
the water stored in the basin drains out.

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Percolation
Some of the precipitation and snow melt moves downwards
percolates or infiltrates through cracks, joints and pores in soil and
rocks until it reaches the water table where it becomes groundwater.
Groundwater
Subterranean water is held in cracks and pore spaces. Depending
on the geology, the groundwater can flow to support streams. It can
also be tapped by wells.

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Some groundwater is very old and may have been there for
thousands of years.
Water table
The water table is the level at which water stands in a shallow well.

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Carbon Cycles
The carbon cycle begins with the intake of carbon dioxide by
photosynthetic organisms. Carbon (and hydrogen and oxygen) atoms
are incorporated into sugar molecules during photosynthesis.
Carbon dioxide is eventually released during respiration, closing the
cycle. The carbon cycle is of special interest because biological
accumulation and release of carbon is a major factor in climate
regulation.

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Step 1: Carbon enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide from
respiration (breathing) and combustion (burning).
Step 2: Carbon dioxide is absorbed by producers (life forms that
make their own food e.g., plants) to make carbohydrates in
photosynthesis. These producers then put off oxygen.

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Step 3: Animals feed on the plants. Thus, passing the carbon
compounds along the food chain. Most of the carbon these
animals consume however is exhaled as carbon dioxide. This is
through the process of respiration. The animals and plants then
eventually die.

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Step 4: The dead organisms (dead animals and plants) are eaten by
decomposers in the ground. The carbon that was in their bodies is
then returned to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. In some
circumstances the process of decomposition is prevented. The
decomposed plants and animals may then be available as fossil
fuel in the future for combustion.

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Nitrogen Cycle
- Nitrogen gas molecules (N2) make up 78% of our atmosphere.
- Plants rely on bacteria living in soils, in plant tissues, or in
aquatic systems to capture N2. These nitrogen fixing bacteria
have proteins that can break N2 bonds.
- Of the many nitrogen compounds, only nitrate (NO3) and
ammonium (NH4) can be used directly by plants.

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These are the sources of nitrogen for forming amino acids, the
building blocks for complex organic compounds such as proteins.
- Where oxygen is available, bacteria may combine ammonia
(NH3) with oxygen to form nitrous oxide (N2O), nitric oxide
(NO), nitrite (NO2), or nitrate (NO3).
- In oxygen-poor conditions, such as in streambed sediments,
saturated soils, or wetlands, denitrifying bacteria may remove
oxygen from nitrate to form

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gaseous compounds, especially nitrous oxide or nitrogen gas.
Conversion to these gaseous forms is known as denitrification
(important in removing nitrogen from aquatic systems that suffer from
eutrophication).
- Nitrogen moves through the food web as organism die,
decompose, or are consumed.
- Decomposers, fungi and bacteria, release ammonia and
ammonium ions, which then are available for nitrite formation.

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- Organisms also release proteins when plants shed their leaves,
needles, flowers, fruits, and cones; or when animals shed hair,
feathers, skin, exoskeletons, pupal cases, and silk, excrement,
or urine, all of which are rich in nitrogen.
- Urinary wastes are especially high in nitrogen because they
contain the detoxified wastes of protein metabolism.

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Phosphorus Cycle
- Phosphorus is the most important among the many elements
released to ecosystem from rock formations because it is often
limited in supply.
- Phosphorus is an essential component of all cells. Compounds
containing this element store and release a great deal of energy,
so phosphorus-compounds, such as ATP, are primary
participants in energy-transfer reactions in cells.
- Phosphorus is also a key component of proteins,
enzymes, and tissues.

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- Low levels of phosphorus limit plant growth. Abundant
phosphorus stimulates lush plant and algal growth, making it a
major water pollutant.
- Phosphorus cycle is really a one-way path. This is because
phosphorus has no atmospheric form, in which it can quickly
recirculate.
- Phosphorus travels gradually downstream, as it is leached from
rocks and minerals, taken up by the food web, and eventually
released into water bodies that deliver it to the ocean.

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- Phosphorus cycles repeatedly through the food web, as
inorganic phosphorus is taken up by plants, incorporated into
organic molecules, and passed on to consumers.
- Though phosphorus washes down river to the ocean, where it
accumulates in ocean sediments. Over geologic time, these
deposits can be uplifted end exposed, so they become available
to terrestrial life again.
- The phosphate use for detergents and fertilizers today are
mined from exposed ocean sediments
millions of years old.

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Thank You and God
Bless

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