What is the name of the cycle involving sulfur and phosphorus?
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Sedimentary Cycle.
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What is the name of the cycle involving sulfur and phosphorus?
Sedimentary Cycle.
What is the process called when sulfur falls directly from the atmosphere?
Fallout.
What are the two interconnected sub-cycles of the carbon cycle?
One dealing with rapid carbon exchange among living organisms, and the other dealing with the long-term cycling of carbon through geologic processes.
What is desalination?
The process of removing mineral components from saline water.
What happens as sulfur-containing rocks weather?
Sulfur is released into the soil.
Why has the pursuit of drinkable water through desalination been ongoing throughout human history?
To obtain drinkable water from saline sources.
What is a major issue in modern times?
The supply of fresh water.
What are the main components of the gaseous cycles?
Nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, and water.
What is transpiration?
The process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from aerial parts.
How does oceanic sulfur enter the ocean?
Where is the major reservoir of phosphorus found?
In sedimentary rocks of marine origin.
What do plants and animals use oxygen for?
To respire and return it to the air and water as carbon dioxide (CO2).
What is happening to aquifers in many cases?
They are being depleted faster than they are being replenished by water penetrating down from above.
Which parts of the plant are involved in transpiration?
Leaves, stems, and flowers.
Why is getting nitrogen into living organisms difficult?
Plants and phytoplankton are not equipped to incorporate nitrogen from the atmosphere.
What is the impact of acid rain on the man-made environment?
Chemical degradation of buildings.
What is the solution phase in the sedimentary cycle related to?
Water.
What are the four major ways in which sulfur is deposited on land?
What are the main oxygen generators of the biosphere?
The waters of the world.
What is the process by which CO2 is converted into carbohydrates by algae and terrestrial green plants?
Photosynthesis.
Apart from sedimentary rocks, where else can large quantities of phosphorus be found?
In soils, dissolved in the oceans, and in organisms.
What is the role of sulfur in living things?
It is an essential element for the molecules of living things.
What causes the formation of acid rain?
Rainwater falling to the ground through sulfur dioxide gas, turning it into weak sulfuric acid.
What is the process of obtaining drinkable water from the ocean called?
Desalination.
What is eutrophication characterized by?
Excessive plant and algal growth.
What is the hydrophere?
The area of the Earth where water movement and storage occur.
What do carbon compounds in fossil fuels contain?
Energy.
What are most groundwater reservoirs known as?
Aquifers.
In what form is atmospheric sulfur found?
Sulfur dioxide (SO2).
What percentage of the atmosphere is comprised of nitrogen?
Approximately 78%.
In what form is atmospheric sulfur found?
Sulfur dioxide (SO2).
What is the rock phase in the sedimentary cycle composed of?
Sediment.
How does excess phosphorus and nitrogen enter the ecosystem?
Through fertilizer runoff and sewage.
What is estimated to replace about 90 percent of all oxygen used?
Algae.
What process converts liquid water to water vapor by solar energy?
Evaporation.
How can human activity alter the nitrogen cycle?
By the combustion of fossil fuels, releasing nitrogen oxides.
How can human activity alter the nitrogen cycle?
By using artificial fertilizers in agriculture, which are then washed into lakes, streams, and rivers through surface runoff.
Where does sulfur cycle between?
Between the oceans, land, and atmosphere.
What drives the water cycle?
The Sun's energy as it warms the ocean and other surface water.
What kind of damage does acid rain cause?
Damage to aquatic ecosystems.
What is the method of increasing water availability by collecting and storing rainwater?
Storing rainwater.
What is the significance of carbon in organisms by mass?
It is the second most abundant element.
What causes excessive plant and algal growth in eutrophication?
Increased availability of one or more limiting growth factors needed for photosynthesis.
What are the forms in which water exists in the hydrophere?
Liquid water, beneath the surface, ice, and water vapor.
What are some components in which phosphorus is found?
Nucleic acids, phospholipids, ATP, and other energy storing molecules.
Where do many of the carbon compounds in fossil fuels come from?
Dead plants and algae.
What is groundwater?
A significant subsurface reservoir of fresh water.
What are nutrient cycles?
Important ecosystem processes that release matter necessary for life back into the environment and help sustain natural processes.
What are the three ways through which sulfur dioxide enters the atmosphere?
How does nitrogen enter the living world from the atmosphere?
Via nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
What is the Oxygen Cycle?
The circulation of oxygen in various forms through nature.
What is the result of excessive growth of algae caused by excess phosphorus and nitrogen?
Dead zones in major rivers.
What happens to elements as they pass through ecosystems?
They are not lost and are recycled repeatedly.
What happens to sulfur as rain falls through the atmosphere?
It is dissolved in the form of weak sulfuric acid (H2SO4).
How does nitrogen enter the living world?
Through free-living and symbiotic bacteria.
What process converts frozen water to water vapor by solar energy?
Sublimation.
What percentage of the human body is water?
About 70 percent.
What are the effects of atmospheric nitrogen associated with Earth's ecosystems?
Production of acid rain (as nitric acid, HNO3) and greenhouse effects (as nitrous oxide, N2O), potentially causing climate change.
What percentage of water in the biosphere is contained in the oceans?
97.5%.
What is the major effect of fertilizer runoff on water bodies?
Eutrophication, which causes the overgrowth of algae, depletion of oxygen, and death of aquatic fauna.
What is a biogeochemical cycle?
A natural pathway by which essential elements of living matter are circulated.
What process gradually adds phosphate to the soil in the phosphorus cycle?
Weathering of rocks.
What is the process that leads to the evaporation of liquid surface water?
The Sun's energy warming the ocean and other surface water.
How do humans harvest groundwater to increase water availability?
By digging wells.
In which molecules is carbon present?
It is present in all organic molecules and some non-organic molecules like CO2.
How does eutrophication occur naturally over centuries?
As lakes age and are filled in with sediments.
How does sulfur dioxide from the atmosphere become available to ecosystems?
It becomes available when dissolved in precipitation as weak sulfuric acid or when it falls directly to Earth as fallout.
What is the role of phosphate (PO4 3−) in the phosphorus cycle?
It is the only biologically important inorganic form, which plants absorb and use to synthesize organic compounds.
Where does groundwater exist?
In the pores between particles in dirt, sand, and gravel, or in the fissures in rocks.
In nature, in what form does phosphorus exist?
As the phosphate ion (PO4^3-).
What processes nitrogen and nitrogenous waste from animals back into gaseous nitrogen?
Soil bacteria.
How long did it take for fossil fuels to fossilize?
Millions of years.
Where is oxygen found?
Free in the air and dissolved in water.
When do massive fish kills occur due to excess phosphorus and nitrogen?
During summer months.
Why does life on Earth depend on the recycling of essential chemical elements?
Life on Earth depends on the recycling of essential chemical elements.
Which chemical elements are recycled in ecosystems?
Water, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur.
What is the process by which certain bacteria can convert nitrogen into a usable form?
Nitrogen fixation.
What do biogeochemical cycles enable?
The transformation of matter from one form to another.
What is the process of water vapor turning into clouds?
Condensation.
What is the biological importance of water?
It is essential to all organisms.
When did the use of fossil fuels accelerate?
In the 1800s.
What percentage of freshwater is bound as ice?
68.9%.
What does the term 'biogeochemical' refer to?
The consideration of the biological, geological, and chemical aspects of each cycle.
Where does some phosphate leach into in the phosphorus cycle?
Groundwater and surface water, moving to the sea.
What are the two classifications of biogeochemical cycles?
Gaseous and Sedimentary.
What is the importance of carbon in biomolecules?
It is important in the structure of biomolecules.
What process makes sulfates available to terrestrial ecosystems?
Weathering of rocks.
What is the mineral constituent of bones and teeth?
Phosphorus.
What happens to water vapor over time?
It condenses into clouds as liquid or frozen droplets.
What do soil bacteria supply terrestrial food webs with?
Organic nitrogen.
How is phosphate released into the soil, water, and air?
Volcanic activity and weathering of rocks.
What is the abundance ranking of oxygen among uncombined elements in the atmosphere?
Second only to nitrogen.
What do nutrient circuits involve?
Nutrient circuits involve both biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) components of ecosystems.
What releases minerals from Earth's crust in the form of salts?
Weathering.
What is the fate of elements needed by living things in ecosystems?
They are recycled repeatedly.
What is facilitated by biogeochemical cycles?
The transfer of molecules from one locality to another.
How does the availability of water influence rates of ecosystem processes?
It influences the rates of ecosystem processes.
What is the product of condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls on the ground?
Precipitation.
What event marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution?
The demand for Earth’s limited fossil fuel supplies rising.
What percentage of freshwater is groundwater?
30.8%.
What are the three components involved in biogeochemical cycles?
Biotic components, Geological & abiotic components, Chemical cycles.
How is phosphate incorporated into organic material in the phosphorus cycle?
Taken up by producers and incorporated into organic material.
What is the reservoir for gaseous biogeochemical cycles?
Air or the oceans (via evaporation).
Where are sulfates returned to through the decomposition of living organisms?
The ocean, soil, and atmosphere.
What does precipitation (rain, snow, hail) do in the water cycle?
It returns water to Earth's surface.
What is the role of denitrifying bacteria in the nitrogen cycle?
Converting nitrates into nitrogen gas, allowing it to re-enter the atmosphere.
How does phosphate enter the oceans?
Through surface runoff, groundwater flow, and river flow.
What is nitrogen fixation?
The process of converting nitrogen gas into ammonia (NH3), which spontaneously becomes ammonium (NH4+).
What are biogeochemical cycles?
Cycles that involve the movement of nutrients through biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems.
Where do some salts dissolve and pass through a series of organisms?
In water.
How do biogeochemical cycles link different components of the environment?
They link living organisms with living organisms, living organisms with the non-living organisms, and non-living organisms with non-living organisms.
What is the term for the flow of freshwater over land from rain or melting ice?
Surface runoff.
What has the increased demand for fossil fuels caused in the atmosphere?
A drastic increase in the amount of carbon dioxide.
Where is a negligible amount of water found?
In the atmosphere.
How is phosphate returned to soil or water in the phosphorus cycle?
Through decomposition of biomass or excretion by consumers.
What is the reservoir for sedimentary biogeochemical cycles?
Earth’s crust.
What happens to phosphate dissolved in ocean water?
It cycles into marine food webs.
What do bacteria convert ammonium into?
Nitrites (NO2-) and then nitrates (NO3-).
Where do the minerals ultimately settle out of circulation indefinitely?
Deep seas.
How are human actions affecting many of these cycles?
Human actions are now negatively affecting many of these cycles.
What is regulated by biogeochemical cycles?
The flow of substances.
On what is many organisms dependent due to its small percentage?
The remaining 2.5% freshwater.
What is the major environmental concern associated with the use of fossil fuels?
Climate change.
What is a reservoir in the context of biogeochemical cycles?
A place where something is kept in store.
What is eutrophication?
The process where excessive nutrients in a body of water cause overgrowth of plants and algae, leading to oxygen depletion and harm to aquatic life.
What are the two main forms in which carbon dioxide exists?
In the atmosphere and dissolved in water.
Where does some phosphate from marine food webs end up?
It falls to the ocean floor, forming sediments.
How do plants and other producers use nitrogen-containing molecules?
To make organic molecules.
In which phase do other salts deposit out as sediment and rock in shallow seas?
Rock phase.
Why should eutrophication matter to people living near the ocean?
Because it can lead to unhealthy or dying fish and other wildlife due to oxygen depletion.
What process converts carbon dioxide gas to organic carbon?
Photosynthesis.
What happens to the nitrogen that is used by plants and producers?
It becomes available to consumers.
What happens to the salts that are deposited as sediment and rock in shallow seas?
They eventually get weathered and recycled.
How can sound agricultural and waste management practices help in protecting marine resources?
By preventing excessive nutrient runoff and reducing the risk of eutrophication.
What process cycles organic carbon back into carbon dioxide gas?
Respiration.
What is denitrification?
When bacteria converts nitrates into nitrogen gas, allowing it to re-enter the atmosphere.
Where does long-term storage of organic carbon occur?
When matter from living organisms is buried deep underground and becomes fossilized.
What brings stored carbon back into the carbon cycle?
Volcanic activity and human emissions.
