Phosphorous Cycle

The unique way that phosphorous travels through the ecosystem without

entering the atmosphere

Phosphorous Cycle

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Description of the phosphorous cycle

• Rain causes rocks that contain phosphorous to weather. The runoff leaches the nutrient into the groundwater and bodies of water. Animals and plants take in phosphorous. When animals die, phosphorous is found in the sediments at the bottoms of bodies of water. Eventually it is formed into layers of rock.

Definitions

• Sediment: particles of matter that settle at the bottom of a body of water (could be from decomposed living things)

• Weathering: the wearing away of materials due to exposure to elements such as rain and wind.

• Limiting nutrient: when a material is in short supply and limits the growth of living things.

Review of Nucleic Acids

• Elements: CHONP• Monomers:

Nucleotides• Polymers: DNA:

double helix, RNA: single helix

• Function:– Pass on heredity info.– Code for proteins

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Algal Bloom

An algal bloom is the overgrowth of algae in a body of water due to an excess of phosphorous.

Algae can reproduce because they are not limited by the amount of phosphorous. This can be caused by runoff of fertilizer.

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