1. State the main six points of explanation which are derived from the study of flow
of energy in an ecosystem.
Answers
Answer:
The cycle of energy is based on the flow of energy through different trophic levels in an ecosystem. Our ecosystem is maintained by the cycling energy and nutrients obtained from different external sources. At the first trophic level, primary producers use solar energy to produce organic material through photosynthesis.
Biogeochemical cycles refer to the flow of such chemical elements and compounds between organisms and the physical environment. Chemicals taken in by organisms are passed through the food chain and come back to the soil, air, and water through mechanisms such as respiration, excretion, and decomposition.
As an element moves through this cycle, it often forms compounds with other elements as a result of metabolic processes in living tissues and of natural reactions in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, or lithosphere.
Such cyclic exchange of material between the living organisms and their non-living environment is called Biogeochemical Cycle.
Following are some important biogeochemical cycles −
Carbon Cycle
Nitrogen Cycle
Water Cycle
Oxygen Cycle
Phosphorus Cycle
Sulphur Cycle
Carbon Cycle
Carbon enters into the living world in the form of carbon dioxide through the process of photosynthesis as carbohydrates. These organic compounds (food) are then passed from the producers to the consumers (herbivores & carnivores). This carbon is finally returned to the surrounding medium by the process of respiration or decomposition of plants and animals by the decomposers. Carbon is also recycled during the burning of fossil fuels.
Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen is present in the atmosphere in an elemental form and as such it cannot be utilized by living organisms. This elemental form of nitrogen is converted into combined state with elements such as H, C, O by certain bacteria, so that it can be readily used by the plants.
Nitrogen is being continuously expelled into the air by the action of microorganisms such as denitrifying bacteria and finally returned to the cycle through the action of lightening and electrification.
Water Cycle
The evaporation of water from ocean, rivers, lakes, and transpiring plants takes water in the form of vapors to the atmosphere. This vaporized water subsequently cools and condenses to form cloud and water. This cooled water vapor ultimately returns to the earth as rain and snow, completing the cycle.
Oxygen Cycle
Oxygen cycle, circulation of oxygen in various forms through nature. Free in the air and dissolved in water, oxygen is second only to nitrogen in abundance among uncombined elements in the atmosphere. Plants and animals use oxygen to respire and return it to the air and water as carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 is then taken up by algae and terrestrial green plants and converted into carbohydrates during the process of photosynthesis, oxygen being a by-product. The waters of the world are the main oxygen generators of the biosphere; their algae are estimated to replace about 90 percent of all oxygen used. Oxygen is involved to some degree in all the other biogeochemical cycles. For example, over time, detritus from living organisms transfers oxygen-containing compounds such as calcium carbonates into the lithosphere.
Phosphorus Cycle
Phosphorus cycle, circulation of phosphorus in various forms through nature. Of all the elements recycled in the biosphere, phosphorus is the scarcest and therefore the one most limiting in any given ecological system. It is indispensable to life, being intimately involved in energy transfer and in the passage of genetic information in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of all cells.
Sulphur Cycle
Sulfur cycle, circulation of sulfur in various forms through nature. Sulfur occurs in all living matter as a component of certain amino acids. It is abundant in the soil in proteins and, through a series of microbial transformations, ends up as sulfates usable by plants.
Sulfur-containing proteins are degraded into their constituent amino acids by the action of a variety of soil organisms. The sulfur of the amino acids is converted to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) by another series of soil microbes. In the presence of oxygen, H2S is converted to sulfur and then to sulfate by sulfur bacteria. Eventually the sulfate becomes H2S.
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