The Environment and its cycles

Everything in the natural world is connected. An ecosystem is a community of

living and non-living things that work together. Ecosystems have no particular
size.
Abiotic factors are essentially non-living components that affect the living
organisms of the ecological community.
An ecosystem includes not only the species inhabiting an area, but also all the
features of the physical environment. Energy cannot be produced without the
consumption of matter; the pyramid of life therefore has a broad base of
vegetation, the smaller herbivores that feed on plants, and a much smaller
number of carnivores. Ecosystem ecologists are interested in the exchange of
energy, gases, water and minerals amongst the biotic (living) and the abiotic
(non-
living)

components of a particular ecosystem. Some of the factors of biotic and abiotic

life are:
Distribution is where organisms occur. There are many different ecosystems:
rain forests and tundra, coral reefs and ponds, grasslands and deserts. Climate
differences from place to place largely determine the types of ecosystems we see.
How terrestrial ecosystems appear to us is influenced mainly by the dominant
vegetation.
Abundance is how many organisms occurr. It is usually measure in a mean
number and found per sample. Abundance can be infulenced by many factors
such as the testing method and the health of the environment.
Environmental Cycles provide and maintain the balance in the environment. It
has taken thousands of years to perfectly adapt a cycle for a specific
environment. These cycles are already balanced and the slightest change can
leave the enviornment unstable and possibly endanger ever biotic creature in it.
That is why we must maintain this balance.
A cycle in the environment is the transferring or carrying of an atom following
another and eventually cycling through the waste and always restoring balance.

Water on Earth is
always changing. Its
repeating changes
make a cycle. As
water goes through
its cycle, it can be a
solid (ice), a liquid
(water), or a gas
(water vapor). Ice
can change to
become water or
water vapor. Water
can change to become ice or water vapor. Water vapor can change to become ice
or water.

Carbon Cycle
Carbon (C), the fourth most
abundant element in the Universe,
after hydrogen (H), helium (He), and
oxygen (O), is the building block of
life. It’s the element that anchors all
organic substances, from fossil fuels
to DNA. On Earth, carbon cycles
through the land, ocean, atmosphere,
and the Earth’s interior in a major
biogeochemical cycle (the circulation
of chemical components through the
biosphere from or to the lithosphere,
atmosphere, and hydrosphere). The
global carbon cycle can be divided
into two categories: the geological,
which operates over large time scales
(millions of years), and the
biological/physical, which operates at
shorter time scales (days to
thousands of years).

Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen is a component of many organic molecules. It forms an essential part
of amino acids (which make up proteins) and DNA. Nitrogen is essential for all
living cells.
Nitrogen is
the major
component
of earth's
atmosphere.
It enters the
food chain
by means of
nitrogen-
fixing
bacteria and
algae in the
soil. This
nitrogen
which has
been 'fixed'
is now
available for
plants to
absorb. These types of bacteria form a symbiotic relationship with legumes--
these types of plants are very useful because the nitrogen fixation enriches the
soil and acts as a 'natural' fertilizer. The nitrogen-fixing bacteria form nitrates out
of the atmospheric nitrogen which can be taken up and dissolved in soil water by
the roots of plants. Then, the nitrates are incorporated by the plants to form
proteins, which can then be spread through the food chain. When organisms
excrete wastes, nitrogen is released into the environment. Also, whenever an
organism dies, decomposers break down the corpse into nitrogen in the form of
ammonia. This nitrogen can then be used again by nitrifying bacteria to fix
nitrogen for the plants.