Nutrient Cycles

How are nutrients recycled through ecosystems?

Why?
We have learned the importance of recycling our trash. It allows us to use something again for another
purpose and prevents the loss of natural resources. But what happens to the waste in nature? Why aren’t
we up to our necks in natural refuse? Why is there always a supply of water? Why is there oxygen to
breathe and carbon dioxide for photosynthesis? Organic compounds in nature are also recycled. This
recycling process converts the complex organic compounds to simple, inorganic compounds, which
then can be returned to nature to be used again and again.

Model 1 – The Water Cycle

1. Model 1 illustrates how nature recycles what natural resource?

Water.

2. Model 1 illustrates four major areas of water storage on Earth. Complete the list of these storage
areas below.
Atmosphere, surface water, ____________________,
bodies of water and ____________________.
aqifers

3. Where is groundwater stored?

in the ground in aquifers.

Nutrient Cycles 1
   4. Name two processes in Model 1 in which water is converted to vapor.
evaportation and transpiration

  5. Describe two methods by which water on land (in lakes and rivers) returns to the oceans.
through groundwater

  6. Rain, sleet, and snow are examples of what?

precepitation

  7. If the air contains high levels of pollutants, what effect might this have on water quality?

it will damage it making it unsafe

  8. Which process(es) of the water cycle—precipitation, evaporation, condensation, runoff,

percolation or transpiration—might contribute to the addition of pollutants to rivers, lakes, and
oceans? Why?
pollution in the air or harmful chemicals in the ground.

  9. Which of the processes associated with the water cycle might be responsible for helping to clean
or filter the water?
when water in the ground seeps through permeable rocks.

10. The water cycle is a closed system, meaning no water enters from beyond the system nor leaves
the system. What does that say about the importance of keeping the water on Earth free from
pollution?

if you pollute the water in the cycle its there forever.

2 POGIL™ Activities for High School Biology

Model 2 – The Carbon Cycle
D
Atmospheric
CO2

C
B Re
sp
ira
tio
n
Respiration
Respiration

A Wastes Feedi
Combustion

ng

Death

Auto and
factory
emissions Decay
(by decomposing fungi, bacteria, and worms) on
ati
m
For
u el
silF
F os

Carbon Sink
(coal, oil, peat, natural gas)

11. Model 2 illustrates how nature recycles what natural resource?

air
12. Name two ways that carbon (usually in the form of CO2) enters the atmosphere.
factory smog or chemicals
13. Process D on the diagram uses CO2 from the atmosphere.
a. Label D on the diagram in Model 2 with the name of this process. plants converting the Co2 into
oxygen
b. What organisms carry out the process identified in part a?
humans and all living beings
14. Wastes and dead organisms must be broken down in order for their components to be used
again.
a. What organisms in the cycle carry out this process?
decomposers
b. What would happen if decomposition did not occur?
there would be no nutrience in the soil and would make it almost impossibe to
grow plants. which results in a lack of food source.

Nutrient Cycles 3
 15. Not all dead organisms are acted on by decomposers. Instead of being immediately recycled, the
carbon from some organisms is kept in a type of long-term storage, or carbon sink. Using Model
2, answer the questions below about this long-term storage.
a. List four materials that contain this stored carbon.
coal, oil, peat, natural gas
b. What is the collective term for these four materials?
carbon sink
c. How do humans use the materials in the carbon sink?
for cars or factories.
d. What is the scientific name for the process listed in part c?
respiration
16. List five examples of combustion in your everyday life.
cars, factories, motorized engines,

17. How is the majority of electricity generated in the area where you live? Does the process involve
the combustion of coal? Check with your teacher if you are not sure.
We get our energy from a power plant

18. Many of the carbon-based fuels are categorized as fossil fuels because they formed from decayed
organisms over millions of years. List as many examples of fossil fuels as you can.

co2 nitrogen

19. How does our use of these carbon stores affect the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere?

the more we use the more we put into the atmosphere

Read This!
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the so-called greenhouse gases. These gases hold heat energy in the
atmosphere, which raises the overall temperature of the Earth. This helps maintain the Earth’s biosphere,
but also has led to environmental concerns. The more CO2 in the atmosphere, the higher the Earth’s
average temperature will be.
20. What is another way in which human activity is increasing the amount of atmospheric CO2, and
what are potential global effects of these changes in CO2 levels?

4 POGIL™ Activities for High School Biology

Model 3 – The Nitrogen Cycle
Denitrification by
denitrifying baceria
Further nitrification by
nitrifying baceria Atmospheric
Nitrates Nitrates Nitrogen
Nitrites in soil (N2)
Absorption by
roots of non-

Nitrogen fixation
legume plants
Feeding
nitrifying baceria
Nitrification by

Death
Wa
stes

Lightning

ath

Nitrogen fixation
De
N-fixing bacteria
on
inati (Found in root nodules
am Decomposition of legumes)
De (by fungi, bacteria, and worms)

Ammonia and other N-fixing bacteria

N-containing
compounds in soil

21. Model 3 illustrates how nature recycles what natural resource?

nitrogen
22. Name three types of bacteria involved in the nitrogen cycle.
nitrates, n fixing bacteria, and nitrogen fixation

Read This!
Nitrification is a process by which specific bacteria convert different forms of N-containing compounds
(like ammonia, NH3) in the soil to nitrites (NO2) and nitrates (NO3). This process is important since the
only forms of nitrogen that are usable by plants to build their proteins are the nitrates.
23. In what ways is N2 gas removed from the atmosphere?

Through lightening and bacteria

24. By what process are animal wastes and dead organisms converted to other nitrogen-containing
compounds?
they decompose and release the energy

Nutrient Cycles 5
 25. What is the only form of nitrogen that nonlegume plants can take in and use?
Atmospheric nitrogen
26. What do the denitrifying bacteria do during the denitrifying process?

They get turned into other chemicals as they decompose

27. If the number of nitrifying bacteria decreased, what effect would this have on the nitrogen cycle
and what type of compounds would accumulate as a result?

It would throw off the rest of the cycle entirly.

6 POGIL™ Activities for High School Biology

Extension Questions
28. Plants and animals are part of all of the nutrient cycles through the foods they eat and what eats
them (food chains and food webs). Name the four classes of organic compounds (containing
carbon) and explain how the carbon cycle and nitrogen cycle contribute to the usable supplies of
these macromolecules.

The energy transfer from one organism to another starting at producer, primary consumer,
secondary consumer, and the top of the food chain.

29. In order to continually use the same area of land for agriculture, some farmers apply fertilizers to
improve the level of nitrates in the soil. An alternative to this intensive use of fertilizer is to plow
the roots of the leguminous plants back into the soil and leave the area unplanted for a season.
Why would a farmer use this alternative method and what would be the benefit of turning over
the soil and leaving the old plant roots?

It would save the ground from using too much fertilizer and killing the nutrience in the soil, and
crop rotation is a good way to not contribute to global warming as well as other agriculture
techniques.

Nutrient Cycles 7