Humans disturb the biogeochemical cycle by doing deforestation. Deforestation is the purposeful
clearing of forested land. Deforestation primarily affects biogeochemical cycling by disrupting the water
cycle causing water to be lost more rapidly from the ecosystem and with it important elements and
nutrients. Elements such as nitrogen and phosphorus and ions such as calcium are all readily
transported by water because water is an excellent solvent. When deforestation occurs water is no
longer captured by the trees and all of the important ions and molecules are exported from the system
by streams and rivers.