carbon cycle

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by

which carbon is
exchanged among
the biosphere, pedosphe
re, geosphere, hydrosph
ere, and atmosphere of
Earth. Carbon is the
main component of
biological compounds as
well as a major
component of many
minerals such
as limestone. Along with
the nitrogen cycle and
the water cycle, the
carbon cycle comprises
a sequence of events
that are key to make Earth capable of sustaining life. It describes
the movement of carbon as it is recycled and reused throughout
the biosphere, as well as long-term processes of carbon
sequestration to and release from carbon sinks. Carbon sinks in
the land and the ocean each currently
take up about one-quarter of
anthropogenic carbon emissions each
year.Humans have disturbed the
biological carbon cycle for many
centuries by modifying land use, and
moreover with the recent industrial-
scale mining of fossil carbon
(coal, petroleum, and gas extraction,
and cement manufacture) from the
geosphere.Carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere had increased nearly 52%
over pre-industrial levels by 2020, forcing greater atmospheric and
Earth surface heating by the Sun. The increased carbon dioxide
has also increased the acidity of the ocean surface by about 30%
due to dissolved carbon dioxide, carbonic acid and other
compounds, and is fundamentally altering marine chemistry. The
majority of fossil carbon has been extracted over just the past half
century, and rates continue to rise rapidly, contributing to human-
caused climate change.The largest consequences to the carbon
cycle, and to the biosphere which critically enables human
civilization, are still set to unfold due to the vast yet
limited inertia of the Earth system.Restoring balance to this natural
system is an international priority, described in both the Paris
Climate Agreement and Sustainable Development Goal 13.Main
components Detail of anthropogenic carbon flows, showing
cumulative mass in gigatons during years 1850–2018 (left) and the
annual mass average during 2009–2018 (right).The carbon cycle
was first described by Antoine Lavoisier and Joseph Priestley, and
popularised by Humphry Davy. The global carbon cycle is now
usually divided into the following major reservoirs of carbon
interconnected by pathways of exchange.

 The atmosphere
 The terrestrial biosphere
 The ocean, including dissolved
inorganic carbon and living and
non-living marine biota
 The sediments, including fossil
fuels, freshwater systems, and non-
living organic material.
 The Earth's interior
(mantle and crust). These carbon
stores interact with the other
components through geological
processes.The carbon exchanges
between reservoirs occur
as the result of various
chemical, physical,
geological, and biological
processes. The ocean
contains the largest active
pool of carbon near the
surface of the Earth.
[13]The natural flows of
carbon between the
atmosphere, ocean,
terrestrial ecosystems,
and sediments are fairly
balanced; so carbon
levels would be roughly
stable without human
influence.
 Carbon is transported in various forms through the atmosphere, the
hydrosphere, and geologic formations. One of the primary pathways
for the exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) takes place between the
atmosphere and the oceans; there a fraction of the CO2 combines
with water, forming carbonic acid (H2CO3) that subsequently loses
hydrogen ions (H+) to form bicarbonate (HCO3−) and carbonate
(CO32−) ions. Mollusk shells or mineral precipitates that form by the
reaction of calcium or other metal
ions with carbonate may become
buried in geologic strata and
eventually release CO2 through
volcanic outgassing. Carbon
dioxide also exchanges through
photosynthesis in plants and
through respiration in animals.
Dead and decaying organic matter
may ferment and release CO2 or
methane (CH4) or may be
incorporated into sedimentary
rock, where it is converted to
fossil fuels. Burning of
hydrocarbon fuels returns CO2 and water (H2O) to the atmosphere.
The biological and anthropogenic pathways are much faster than the
geochemical pathways and, consequently, have a greater impact on
the composition and temperature of the atmosphere.

Nitrogen cycle
The nitrogen cycle is
the biogeochemical
cycle by which nitrogen is
converted into multiple
chemical forms as it
circulates
among atmospheric, terr
estrial, and marine
ecosystems. The
conversion of nitrogen
can be carried out
through both biological
and physical processes.
Important processes in
the nitrogen cycle include fixation, ammonification, nitrification,
and denitrification. The majority of Earth's atmosphere (78%) is
atmospheric nitrogen making it the largest source of nitrogen.
However, atmospheric nitrogen has limited availability for
biological use, leading to a scarcity of usable nitrogen in many
types of ecosystems.
The nitrogen cycle is of particular interest to ecologists because
nitrogen availability can affect the rate of key ecosystem
processes, including primary production and decomposition.
Human activities such as fossil fuel combustion, use of artificial
nitrogen fertilizers, and release of nitrogen in wastewater have
dramatically altered the global nitrogen cycle.Human modification
of the global nitrogen cycle can negatively affect the natural
environment system and also human health.
processes
Nitrogen is present in the environment
in a wide variety of chemical forms
including organic
nitrogen, ammonium (NH+4), nitrite (NO
−2), nitrate (NO−3), nitrous
oxide (N2O), nitric oxide (NO) or
inorganic nitrogen gas (N2). Organic
nitrogen may be in the form of a living
organism, humus or in the intermediate
products of organic matter
decomposition. The processes in the
nitrogen cycle is to transform nitrogen
from one form to another. Many of
those processes are carried out by microbes, either in their effort
to harvest energy or to accumulate nitrogen in a form needed for
their growth. For example, the nitrogenous wastes in
animal urine are broken down by nitrifying bacteria in the soil to be
used by plants. The diagram alongside shows how these
processes fit together to form the nitrogen cycle.
Nitrogen fixation
Main article: Nitrogen fixation
The conversion of nitrogen gas (N2) into nitrates and nitrites
through atmospheric, industrial and biological processes is called
nitrogen fixation.
Atmospheric nitrogen must
be processed, or "fixed",
into a usable form to be
taken up by plants. Between
5 and 10 billion kg per year
are fixed
by lightning strikes, but
most fixation is done by
free-living
or symbiotic bacteria known
as diazotrophs. These
bacteria have
the nitrogenaseenzyme that
combines gaseous nitrogen with hydrogen to produce ammonia,
which is converted by the bacteria into other organic compounds.
Most biological nitrogen fixation occurs by the activity of Mo-
nitrogenase, found in a wide variety of bacteria and some Archaea.
Mo-nitrogenase is a complex two-component enzyme that has
multiple metal-containing prosthetic groups.[22] An example of free-
living bacteria is Azotobacter. Symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria
such as Rhizobium usually live in the root nodules
of legumes (such as peas, alfalfa, and locust trees). Here they
form a mutualistic relationship with the plant, producing ammonia
in exchange for carbohydrates. Because of this relationship,
legumes will often increase the nitrogen content of nitrogen-poor
soils. A few non-legumes can also form such symbioses. Today,
about 30% of the total fixed nitrogen is produced industrially using
the Haber-Bosch process,[23] which uses high temperatures and
pressures to convert nitrogen gas and a hydrogen source (natural
gas or petroleum) into
Assimilation
Main articles: Assimilation (biology) and Nitrogen assimilation
Plants can absorb nitrate or ammonium from the soil by their root
hairs. If nitrate is absorbed, it is first reduced to nitrite ions and
then ammonium ions for incorporation into amino acids, nucleic
acids, and chlorophyll. In plants that have a symbiotic relationship
with rhizobia, some nitrogen is assimilated in the form of
ammonium ions directly from the nodules. It is now known that
there is a more complex cycling of amino acids
between Rhizobia bacteroids and plants. The plant provides amino
acids to the bacteroids so ammonia assimilation is not required
and the bacteroids pass amino acids (with the newly fixed
nitrogen) back to the plant, thus forming an interdependent
relationship. While many animals, fungi, and
other heterotrophic organisms obtain nitrogen by ingestion
of amino acids, nucleotides, and other small organic molecules,
other heterotrophs (including many bacteria) are able to utilize
inorganic compounds, such as ammonium as sole N sources.
Utilization of various N sources is carefully regulated in all
organisms.
Ammonification
When a plant or animal dies or an animal expels waste, the initial
form of nitrogen is organic. Bacteria or fungi convert the organic
nitrogen within the remains back into ammonium (NH+4), a process
called ammonification or mineralization. Enzymes involved are:

 GS: Gln Synthetase (Cytosolic & Plastic)

 GOGAT: Glu 2-oxoglutarate aminotransferase (Ferredoxin &
NADH-dependent)
 GDH: Glu Dehydrogenase:
o Minor Role in ammonium assimilation.
o Important in amino acid catabolism.

Nitrification
Main article: Nitrification
The conversion of ammonium to nitrate is performed primarily by
soil-living bacteria and other nitrifying bacteria. In the primary
stage of nitrification, the oxidation of ammonium (NH+4) is
performed by bacteria such as the Nitrosomonas species, which
converts ammonia to nitrites(NO−2). Other bacterial species such
as Nitrobacter, are responsible for the oxidation of the nitrites
(NO−2) into nitrates (NO−3). It is important for the ammonia (NH3)
to be converted to nitrates or nitrites because ammonia gas is toxic
to plants.
Due to their very high solubility and because soils are highly
unable to retain anions, nitrates can enter groundwater. Elevated
nitrate in groundwater is a concern for drinking water use because
nitrate can interfere with blood-oxygen levels in infants and
cause methemoglobinemia or blue-baby syndrome. Where
groundwater recharges stream flow, nitrate-enriched groundwater
can contribute to eutrophication, a process that leads to high algal
population and growth, especially blue-green algal populations.
While not directly toxic to fish life, like ammonia, nitrate can have
indirect effects on fish if it contributes to this eutrophication.
Nitrogen has contributed to severe eutrophication problems in
some water bodies. Since 2006, the application of
nitrogen fertilizerhas been increasingly controlled in Britain and the
United States. This is occurring along the same lines as control of
phosphorus fertilizer, restriction of which is normally considered
essential to the recovery of eutrophied waterbodies.
Denitrification
Main article: Denitrification
Denitrification is the reduction of nitrates back into nitrogen gas (N
2), completing the nitrogen cycle. This process is performed by
bacterial species such as Pseudomonas and Paracoccus, under
anaerobic conditions. They use the nitrate as an electron acceptor
in the place of oxygen during respiration. These facultatively
(meaning optionally) anaerobic bacteria can also live in aerobic
conditions. Denitrification happens in anaerobic conditions e.g.
waterlogged soils. The denitrifying bacteria use nitrates in the soil
to carry out respiration and consequently produce nitrogen gas,
which is inert and unavailable to plants. Denitrification occurs in
free-living microorganisms as well as obligate symbionts of
anaerobic ciliates.
Dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium
Dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), or
nitrate/nitrite ammonification, is an anaerobic respiration process.
Microbes which undertake DNRA oxidise organic matter and use
nitrate as an electron acceptor, reducing it to nitrite,
then ammonium (NO−3 → NO−2 → NH+4).Both denitrifying and
nitrate ammonification bacteria will be competing for nitrate in the
environment, although DNRA acts to conserve bioavailable
nitrogen as soluble ammonium rather than producing dinitrogen
gas.

phosphorus cycle
The phosphorus cycle is the biogeochemical cycle that describes
the movement
of phosphorus through
the lithosphere, hydrosphere,
and biosphere. Unlike many
other biogeochemical cycles,
the atmosphere does not play
a significant role in the
movement of phosphorus,
because phosphorus and
phosphorus-based
compounds are usually solids
at the typical ranges of
temperature and pressure found on Earth. The production
of phosphine gas occurs in only specialized, local conditions.
Therefore, the phosphorus cycle should be viewed from whole
Earth system and then specifically focused on the cycle in
terrestrial and aquatic systems.
Living organisms require phosphorus, a vital component
of DNA, RNA, ATP, etc, for their proper functioning. Plants
assimilate phosphorus as phosphate and incorporate it
into organic compounds and in animals, phosphorus is a key
component of bones, teeth, etc. On the land, phosphorus gradually
becomes less available to plants over thousands of years, since it
is slowly lost in runoff. Low concentration of phosphorus
in soils reduces plant growth and slows soil microbial growth, as
shown in studies of soil microbial biomass. Soil
microorganisms act as both sinks and sources of available
phosphorus in the biogeochemical cycle.[1] Short-term
transformation of phosphorus is chemical, biological, or
microbiological. In the long-term global cycle, however, the major
transfer is driven by tectonicmovement over geologic time.[2]
Humans have caused major changes to the global phosphorus
cycle through shipping of phosphorus minerals, and use of
phosphorus fertilizer, and also the shipping of food from farms to
cities, where it is lost as effluent.

phosphorus in the environment

Ecological function
Phosphorus is an essential
nutrient for plants and
animals. Phosphorus is
a limiting nutrient for
aquatic organisms.
Phosphorus forms parts of
important life-sustaining
molecules that are very
common in the biosphere.
Phosphorus does enter the
atmosphere in very small
amounts when the dust is
dissolved in rainwater and
seaspray but remains
mostly on land and in rock
and soil minerals. Eighty
percent of the mined
phosphorus is used to
make fertilizers.
Phosphates from
fertilizers, sewage and
detergents can cause
pollution in lakes and
streams. Over-enrichment
of phosphate in both fresh
and inshore marine waters
can lead to massive algae
blooms. In fresh water, the death and decay of these blooms leads
to eutrophication. An example of this is the Canadian Experimental
Lakes Area.
These freshwater algal blooms should not be confused with those
in saltwater environments. Recent research suggests that the
predominant pollutant responsible for algal blooms in saltwater
estuaries and coastal marine habitats is nitrogen.[3]
Phosphorus occurs most abundantly in nature as part of
the orthophosphate ion (PO4)3−, consisting of a P atom and 4
oxygen atoms. On land most phosphorus is found in rocks and
minerals. Phosphorus-rich deposits have generally formed in the
ocean or from guano, and over time, geologic processes bring
ocean sediments to land. Weathering of rocks and minerals
release phosphorus in a soluble form where it is taken up by
plants, and it is transformed into organic compounds. The plants
may then be consumed by herbivores and the phosphorus is either
incorporated into their tissues or excreted. After death, the animal
or plant decays, and phosphorus is returned to the soil where a
large part of the phosphorus is transformed into insoluble
compounds. Runoff may carry a small part of the phosphorus back
to the ocean. Generally with time (thousands of years) soils
become deficient in phosphorus leading to ecosystem
retrogression.
Major pools in aquatic systems
There are four major pools of phosphorus
in freshwater ecosystems: inorganic phosphorus , dissolved
organic phosphorus (DOP), particulate organic phosphorus (POP),
and particulate inorganic phosphorus (PIP). Dissolved material is
defined as substances that pass through a 0.45 μm filter. DIP
consists mainly of orthophosphate (PO43-) and polyphosphate,
while DOP consists of DNA and phosphoproteins. Particulate
matter are the substances that get caught on a 0.45 μm filter and
do not pass through. POP consists of both living and dead
organisms, while PIP mainly consists of hydroxyapatite,
Ca5(PO4)3OH . Inorganic phosphorus comes in the form of readily
soluble orthophosphate. Particulate organic phosphorus occurs
in suspension in living and dead protoplasm and is insoluble.
Dissolved organic phosphorus is derived from the particulate
organic phosphorus by excretion and decomposition and is
soluble.
Biological function
The primary biological importance of phosphates is as a
component of nucleotides, which serve as energy storage
within cells (ATP) or when linked together, form the nucleic
acids DNA and RNA. The double helix of our DNA is only
possible because of the phosphate ester bridge that binds the
helix. Besides making biomolecules, phosphorus is also
found in bone and the enamel of mammalian teeth, whose
strength is derived from calcium phosphate in the form
of hydroxyapatite. It is also found in the exoskeleton of
insects, and phospholipids (found in all biological
membranes).It also functions as a buffering agent in
maintaining acid base homeostasis in the human body.

phosphorus cycling
Phosphates move quickly through plants and animals; however,
the processes that move them through the soil or ocean are very
slow, making the phosphorus cycle overall one of the slowest
biogeochemical cycles.
The global phosphorus cycle includes four major processes:
(i) tectonic uplift and exposure of phosphorus-bearing
rocks such as apatite to surface weathering;
(ii) physical erosion, and chemical and biological
weathering of phosphorus-bearing rocks to provide
dissolved and particulate phosphorus to soils, lakes
and rivers;
(iii) riverine and subsurface transportation of
phosphorus to various lakes and run-off to the ocean;
(iv) sedimentation of particulate phosphorus (e.g.,
phosphorus associated with organic matter and
oxide/carbonate minerals) and eventually burial in
marine sediments (this process can also occur in lakes
and rivers).
In terrestrial systems, bioavailable P (‘reactive P’) mainly comes
from weathering of phosphorus-containing rocks. The most
abundant primary phosphorus-mineral in the crust is apatite, which
can be dissolved by natural acids generated by soil microbes and
fungi, or by other chemical weathering reactions and physical
erosion. The dissolved phosphorus is bioavailable to terrestrial
organisms and plants and is returned to the soil after their decay.
Phosphorus retention by soil minerals (e.g., adsorption onto iron
and aluminum oxyhydroxides in acidic soils and precipitation onto
calcite in neutral-to-calcareous soils) is usually viewed as the most
important process in controlling terrestrial P-bioavailability in the
mineral soil. This process can lead to the low level of dissolved
phosphorus concentrations in soil solution. Various physiological
strategies are used by plants and microorganisms for obtaining
phosphorus from this low level of phosphorus concentration.
Soil phosphorus is usually transported to rivers and lakes and can
then either be buried in lake sediments or transported to the ocean
via river runoff. Atmospheric phosphorus deposition is another
important marine phosphorus source to the ocean.In surface
seawater, dissolved inorganic phosphorus,
mainly orthophosphate (PO43-), is assimilated by phytoplankton
and transformed into organic phosphorus
compounds. Phytoplankton cell lysis releases cellular dissolved
inorganic and organic phosphorus to the surrounding environment.
Some of the organic phosphorus compounds can be hydrolyzed by
enzymes synthesized by bacteria and phytoplankton and
subsequently assimilated. The vast majority of phosphorus is
remineralized within the water column, and approximately 1% of
associated phosphorus carried to the deep sea by the falling
particles is removed from the ocean reservoir by burial in
sediments. A series of diagenetic processes act to enrich sediment
pore water phosphorus concentrations, resulting in an appreciable
benthic return flux of phosphorus to overlying bottom waters.
These processes include
(i) microbial respiration of organic matter in
sediments,
(ii) microbial reduction and dissolution of iron and
manganese (oxyhydr)oxides with subsequent release of
associated phosphorus, which connects the phosphorus
cycle to the iron cycle,and
(iii) abiotic reduction of iron (oxyhydr)oxides
by hydrogen sulfide and liberation of iron-associated
phosphorus.
Additionally,
(iv) phosphate associated with calcium carbonate and
(v) transformation of iron oxide-bound phosphorus
to vivianite play critical roles in phosphorus burial
in marine sediments.
These processes are similar to phosphorus cycling in lakes and
rivers.
Although orthophosphate (PO43-), the dominant inorganic P
species in nature, is oxidation state (P5+), certain microorganisms
can use phosphonate and phosphite (P3+ oxidation state) as a P
source by oxidizing it to orthophosphate. Recently, rapid
production and release of reduced phosphorus compounds has
provided new clues about the role of reduced P as a missing link in
oceanic phosphorus