define the basic characteristics of a biogeochemical cycle? 3mark
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Explanation:
Key points
Energy flows through an ecosystem and is dissipated as heat, but chemical elements are recycled.
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.
Biogeochemical cycles important to living organisms include the water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur cycles.
Energy flows, but matter is recycled.
Energy flows directionally through Earth’s ecosystems, typically entering in the form of sunlight and exiting in the form of heat. However, the chemical components that make up living organisms are different: they get recycled.
What does that mean? 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. 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!
The six most common elements in organic molecules—carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur—take a variety of chemical forms. They may 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. Geologic processes—such as weathering of rocks, erosion, water drainage, and the subduction of continental plates—all play a role in this recycling of materials, as do interactions among organisms.
The ways in which an element—or, in some cases, a compound such as water—moves between its various living and nonliving forms and locations is called a biogeochemical cycle. This name reflects the importance of chemistry and geology as well as biology in helping us understand these cycles.
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