Answer to Question #291124 in Ecology for Kelsey Jand

Question

Be able to answer the following questions using Claim Evidence Reasoning (CER)

• Is matter cycled in the ecosphere? How is it cycled? Why is that important?
• How is the carbon cycle in the ecosphere different from that on Earth as a whole?
• What are the similarities and differences between matter/nutrients and energy in an ecosystem?

Answer 1

1. No. Unlike energy, matter is recycled in ecosystems. Decomposers release nutrients when they break down dead organisms. Nutrients pass to primary consumers when they eat the plants. When living things die, the cycle repeats. Matter cycles are important because these biogeochemical cycles move matter from one organism to another and from living organisms to the abiotic environment and back again. When these organisms die, their shells sink to the ocean floor and become part of the sedimentary rock layer.

2. The global carbon cycle refers to the exchanges of carbon within and between four major reservoirs: the atmosphere, the oceans, land, and fossil fuels while the cycling of carbon approximates the flows of energy around the Earth, the metabolism of natural, human, and industrial systems.

3. (i) similarities- As energy move through an ecosystem, it changes form, but no new energy is created. Similarly, as matter cycles within an ecosystem, atoms are rearranged into various molecules, but no new matter is created. So, during all ecosystem processes, energy and matter are conserved.

(ii) Differences -Unlike energy, matter is recycled in ecosystems. Decomposers release nutrients when they break down dead organisms. Nutrients are taken up by plants through their roots. Nutrients pass to primary consumers when they eat the plants.