How the Nitrogen cycle

works with Sustainability

By: Kandalynn Naidl
Hawaii sustainability problem:
If Hawaiis planes and barges stopped bringing us food what would we do? How
would we produce our own food and maintain life? Once we start growing crops,
how do we maintain these crops? What if the leaves turn yellow or brown?

How does this play into the Nitrogen cycle? How does the Nitrogen cycle work?
 Nitrogen cycle:
78% of our atmosphere is nitrogen gas
Nitrogen in the air is diffused and moves into
the soil
Nitrogen fixers (legumes, soybeans, etc.) have a
bacteria that turns nitrogen gas into Nitrates
plants can use
Nitrates are absorbed by the roots
Animals and humans eat the plants
Animals pee+poo and die
Animals are broken down by decomposers
(bacteria and fungi) and turn into ammonium
Denitrifying bacteria turn the ammonia in the
soil back into Nitrogen gas

Man made fertilizer is when Nitrogen gas is

combined with oxygen directly to form nitrates or
ammonia.

Nitrogen gas = N2 ; Nitrates = NO3- ; Ammonium =

NH3
 How do humans transfer Nitrogen into plants without
fertilizer?
Nitrogen is naturally transferred from a gas in the
atmosphere into nitrates plants can use by bacteria.
This bacteria is only found in certain plants, called
nitrogen fixing plants. These plants include soy beans,
legumes, pigeon peas, alfalfa, etc. Farmers plant these
crops next to crops humans or animals need a lot of.
The nitrogen in the soil helps produce abundant
harvests of the other plant.

Here a farm has alfalfa and soybeans (legumes)with and

corn (non legume) planted every other row, alternating.
What impact does the Nitrogen cycle have?
The nitrogen cycle has a huge impact on Earth and
everyone living on it. Amino acids all contain nitrogen
and these are the building blocks that make up the
proteins in your hair, muscles, skin and other important
tissues. Nitrogen is an important part of your DNA,
which defines who you are in many ways.

Plants need nitrogen to flourish, and we need crops to

have nitrogen so we can feed our islands.
What does this mean for the environment and population on
a global scale? *Fertilizers and GMOs pollute our water and
are harmful to the soil, depleting it of natural
nutrients*
Humans like the easy way out and as of now fertilizers are
the easy way out to a lot of people. We need to introduce
more local farms and stop using GMO fertilizers that can
produce super weeds, can contaminate entire fields of
crops through seeds and easy cross pollination, etc. We
need to take advantage of the plants that produce nitrates
and look into ways we can make all plants have nitrate
producing bacteria. We need to use naturally occurring
nitrates in manure, compost, nitrogen fixing plants, and
through lighting and rain.
How do we solve the nitrogen sustainability problem for
Hawaii?
Say there was a problem with the plants we were growing and
their leaves started to yellow and brown.

What role would nitrogen play? How could we fix the problem
with nitrogen?

The problem could be that the plant didn't have enough water,
the soil was to compact, didnt have enough nitrogen or the
plant was getting a root disease.

If the plant was having a nitrogen deficiency the best solution

would be to plant nitrogen fixers in between the rows of regular
plants and use soil with manure. Manure is rich in Nitrogen and
we would have it around if we were to be sustainable.
Sources:
A special thanks to the Laakea farm workers and
plants !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=372K0jyO0hQ

http://responsibletechnology.org/10-reasons-to-avoid-
gmos/

http://www.greenersideoflife.com/uncategorized/diagn
osing-and-treating-nitrogen-deficiency/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/1409
18-soil-bacteria-microbe-farming-technology-ngfood/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/164451823867099261/