Nutrient Cycles

 

Nutrient Cycles

Populations, communities all interact with the environment. A key part of that interaction is the cycling of nutrients through different populations and trophic levels in an ecosystem. Nutrients provide substance to organisms, but nutrients can be very limited. The availability of nutrients are a limiting factor to the growth and development of individuals within a population, but certain key nutrients are continuously recycled. It is through this exchange of necessary elements between the living and non-living world that sustains life.

The major cycles that we will examine are the water cycle, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorus cycle, and sulfur cycle. Each cycle sustains life, as key chemicals and atoms are altered, incorporated, then released step-by-step through an ecosystem or biome.