The Phosphorus Cycle!
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Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plants and animals.
• It is a part of DNA/RNA-molecules,
molecules that store energy (ATP and ADP)
and fats of cell membranes.
• P also helps build parts of the human and
animal body, like bones and teeth.
• P can be found on earth in water, soil and
sediments but cannot be found in the air as a
gas.
• It is usually a liquid cycling through water,
soil and sediments.
• In the atmosphere, it can be found as very
small dust particles.
• moves slowly from deposits on land and in
sediments, to living organisms, and then much
more slowly back into the soil and water
sediment.
• The phosphorus cycle is the slowest cycle!
• P is mostly found in rock formations and
ocean sediments as phosphate salts.
• Weathering releases the salts from rocks and
dissolve in soil water and are absorbed by
plants.
• The amount of P in soil is small, so it limits
plant growth, which is why humans use
phosphate fertilizers on farmlands.
• Phosphates also limit plant-growth in marine
ecosystems because they are not very water
soluble.
• Animals absorb phosphates by eating plants
or plant-eating animals.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
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• P travels through plants and animals faster
than through rocks and sediments.
• When a plant/animal dies, it decays, putting
phosphates back in the soil or water basins
again
• It will end up in rocks again, then after
millions of years it will eventually be released
again through weathering!
And the cycle
continues….
DUN DUN DUNNNNNN…… MUAHAHAHAHA!
Want to watch a video presentation on
the phosphorus cycle?