Cycling of Matter - Introduction
At the end of the last unit, we learned about supporting services of ecosystems. Supporting services includes primary production, soil formation, and nutrient cycling. These are part of something we call the cycling of matter. Matter is a substance that takes up space. You are made of matter. This computer is made of matter. The air is also made of matter.
Matter cannot be created, and it cannot be destroyed. Matter changes forms, such as when water changes to ice or to steam, and it cycles through biotic organisms and abiotic factors in nature. For example, carbon is in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and make sugar with it. Animals (including humans) eat the plants and break down the sugars and exhale carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is a continuous, unending cycle.
- Matter - a substance that takes up space
Matter cannot be created, and it cannot be destroyed. Matter changes forms, such as when water changes to ice or to steam, and it cycles through biotic organisms and abiotic factors in nature. For example, carbon is in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and make sugar with it. Animals (including humans) eat the plants and break down the sugars and exhale carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is a continuous, unending cycle.
Nutrient Cycling
You now know about ecosystem services, and that one of those services is called supporting services. This is the one that has to happen for all others to take place. One of the examples of supporting services we talked about was nutrient cycling. Nutrient cycling is also an example of the cycling of matter.
Carbon is a nutrient, or a substance that nourishes an organism. In other words, organisms need carbon to survive. Living organisms need many other nutrients to survive, and they all cycle through nature. This means the nutrients move through living and non-living things over and over again, and it never ends. Other nutrients that are necessary for survival and cycle through nature are hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur. You may have guessed that we get hydrogen and oxygen from water and air. Nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur are elements that make up proteins. We get nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur from things we eat, especially meats.
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In the next pages you will learn about the carbon cycle, the hydrologic cycle (that means water cycle), and the rock cycle. The carbon cycle is important not only because living organisms need carbon to survive, but also because the carbon cycle helps us understand the role of carbon in climate change over time. Scientists can check ice-core records for carbon deposits up to 800,000 years old!
The hydrologic cycle is important to learn about because it shows how, in the short term, water is provided to living organisms. It is also important to learn about because it helps us understand how water -in the form of liquid, solid, and gas- can actually change how the planet looks over vast time scales. Similarly, the rock cycle also changes the way our planet looks over time. Rocks change and move, sometimes in the form of liquid rock, and sometimes with the help of water.
Ultimately, all of this happens because of the flow of energy from the sun and from inside Earth. The sun is a great ball of nuclear reactions. It provides energy for most of Earth's processes to happen. The inside of Earth is also a power source, providing energy for the rock cycle to happen. This includes the action of tectonic plates (those things that cause earthquakes). Much of this energy is lost as heat in the atmosphere, eventually disappears, and does not return.
So... matter cycles and energy flows.
The hydrologic cycle is important to learn about because it shows how, in the short term, water is provided to living organisms. It is also important to learn about because it helps us understand how water -in the form of liquid, solid, and gas- can actually change how the planet looks over vast time scales. Similarly, the rock cycle also changes the way our planet looks over time. Rocks change and move, sometimes in the form of liquid rock, and sometimes with the help of water.
Ultimately, all of this happens because of the flow of energy from the sun and from inside Earth. The sun is a great ball of nuclear reactions. It provides energy for most of Earth's processes to happen. The inside of Earth is also a power source, providing energy for the rock cycle to happen. This includes the action of tectonic plates (those things that cause earthquakes). Much of this energy is lost as heat in the atmosphere, eventually disappears, and does not return.
So... matter cycles and energy flows.
Continue to the hydrologic cycle
Continue to the carbon cycle
Continue to the rock cycle
NGSS - MS-LS2-3: Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on describing the conservation of matter and flow of energy into and out of various ecosystems, and on defining the boundaries of the system.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the use of chemical reactions to describe the processes.]