Biogeochemical Cycles and Human Impacts

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Biogeochemical Cycles and Human Impacts The carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, and phosphorus cycle all play a big role in our environment. They are some of the key components that are recycled to create pathways know as the biogeochemical cycles. All the chemical elements that make up living cells must be recycled continuously in order for the living components of a major ecosystem[->0] to survive. The recycling of these elements is the only possible way to maintain a dynamic system. Human impacts of these cycles are very significant and have considerably sped up the processes. (Pearson Education, 2011) Carbon is a nutrient that all organisms need to survive. Carbon is the basic building block of all living things. It moves through an ecosystem in a cycle called the carbon cycle. In this cycle carbon in the atmosphere is known as carbon dioxide. Plants use it to perform photosynthesis and make food. Animals then eat the plants that contained the carbon. Carnivores then eat the other animals thus releasing carbon in animals. Both plants and animals respire. Carbon dioxide is returned to the atmosphere through respiration and decomposition. At one time, carbon was returned to the atmosphere as quickly as it was removed. However, humans have impacted the carbon cycle with the increased burning of fossil fuels. Deforestation reduces the amount of carbon dioxide being used in photosynthesis and the use of land for agriculture releases carbon dioxide into the environment. Both of which adds carbon to the atmosphere faster than plants can remove it. More recently, reforestation and changed agricultural practices have improved this somewhat. (Pearson Education, 2011) Nitrogen is needed by all organisms to make proteins. Almost 78% of the atmosphere is nitrogen thus meaning that the main reservoir for the nitrogen cycle is the air. This atmospheric nitrogen is
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