Nutrient Cycling and Retention

Chapter 19

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A maple leaf falls into the water of a stream. Decomposition of the leaf will
begin quickly, releasing nutrients that will be available for uptake by
primary producers in the stream, including the duckweed floating nearby.
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• Exchange of nutrients between organisms
and their environment is one of the essential
aspects of ecosystem function.
• Energy makes a one-way trip through
ecosystems. In contrast, elements such as
phosphorus (P), carbon (C), nitrogen (N),
potassium (K), and iron (Fe) are used over
and over.
• Elements that are required for the
development, maintenance, and reproduction
of organisms are called nutrients.
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v Energy makes a one-way trip through ecosystems.
v Elements are used over and over.
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 19.1 Nutrient Cycles

• Nutrient cycling: use, transformation,

movement, and reuse of nutrients in
ecosystems.
• Nutrient cycles involve the storage (nutrient
pools) and movement (nutrient flux) of
nutrients in an ecosystem
v Ecologists are interested in the factors

affecting the distribution of nutrients and

the rates of flux

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• Nutrient sink is a part of the biosphere where
a particular nutrient is absorbed faster than it
is released.

• Nutrient source is a portion of the biosphere

where a particular nutrient is released faster
than it is absorbed.

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 Phosphorus Cycle

• Global phosphorus cycle does not include

substantial atmospheric pool.
v Largest quantities found in mineral

deposits and marine sediments.

§ Much of this in forms not directly

available to plants.
v Slowly released in terrestrial and aquatic

ecosystems via weathering of rocks.

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Phosphorus Cycle

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 Nitrogen Cycle

• It has a major atmospheric pool (N2).

• Nitrogen fixation by:
v Cyanobacteria (blue green algae)

v Free-living soil bacteria

v Bacteria associated with roots of

leguminous plants.
v Actinomycetes bacteria associated with

roots of some woody plants.

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• Nitrogen fixation:
• N2 Ammonia (NH3)
• Ammonification:
• Nitrogen in tissues Ammonium (NH4+)
• Nitrification:
• Ammonium (NH4+) Nitrate (NO3-)
• Denitrification:
• Nitrate (NO3-) molecular nitrogen (N2)

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• Once N is fixed it is available to organisms.

• Fixation is energy-demanding process.

• Upon death of an organism, N can be

released by fungi and bacteria during
decomposition.

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Nitrogen Cycle

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 Carbon Cycle

• Moves between organisms and atmosphere

as a consequence of photosynthesis and
respiration.
v In aquatic ecosystems, CO2 must first

dissolve into water before being used by

primary producers.
v Although some C cycles rapidly, some

remains sequestered in unavailable forms

for long periods of time.

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Carbon Cycle

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 19.2 Rates of Decomposition

• Decomposition rate is influenced by

temperature, moisture, and chemical
composition of litter and the environment.
• Decomposition is the breakdown of organic
matter accompanied by the release of
carbon dioxide and other inorganic
compounds.
• Mineralization is the breakdown of organic
matter to inorganic form during
decomposition.
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• Rate at which nutrients are made available
to primary producers is determined largely
by rate of mineralization.
• Rate of decomposition in terrestrial systems
is significantly influenced by temperature,
moisture, and the chemical compositions of
plant litter and the environment.

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 Decomposition in Woodland Ecosystems

• Gallardo and Merino (1993) found

differences in mass loss by the target
species reflected differences in the physical
and chemical characteristics of their leaves.

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 Influence of leaf toughness and nitrogen content on
decomposition of the leaves of nine different shrub and tree
species. (i.e. tougher leaves with lower concentrations of
nitrogen decomposed at a lower rate. 18
Decomposition in Temperate Forest Ecosystems

• Melillo et.al. (1982) used litter bags to study

decomposition in temperate forests.
v Found leaves with higher lignin: nitrogen

ratios lost less mass.

v Higher N availability in soil might have

contributed to higher decomposition rates.

v Higher environmental temperatures may

have also played a role.

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 Higher nitrogen availability in the soils at the North Carolina site may
contribute to the higher rates of decomposition observed there. However,
higher temperatures at the North Carolina site may also contribute to
higher decomposition rates. 20
• Meentemeyer (1978) analyzed the
relationship between actual
evapotranspiration (AET) and decomposition
and found a significant positive relationship.

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Relationship between actual evapotranspiration and
decomposition 22
• Takayu et al. (2003) compared effect of soil
nutrient content as reflected in three
geological formations (rocks):
§ Quaternary: 30,000-40,000 years old

§ Tertiary: 40 million years old

§ Ultratrabasic: 40 million years old

• Found that higher rates of primary

production, higher rates of litter fall, and
higher rates of decomposition on sites with
higher concentration of phosphorous.
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 Decomposition in Aquatic Ecosystems

• Gessner and Chauvet (1994) found leaves

with a higher lignin content decomposed at a
slower rate. (Higher lignin inhibits fungi
colonization of leaves).
• Suberkropp and Chauvet (1995) found
leaves degraded faster in streams with higher
nitrate concentrations.
• Rosemond et al. (2002) found leaves
degraded faster in streams sites with higher
phosphorous concentrations.
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Decomposition in Aquatic Ecosystems

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 19.4 Disturbance and Nutrients
• Disturbance generally increases nutrient
loss from ecosystems.
• Likens and Bormann had designed to study
how forests affect the loss of nutrients, such
as nitrogen, from forested lands.
• They had studied two small stream valleys
for 3 years before cutting the trees in one of
the valleys.
• The increased rates of nutrient loss following
forest cutting were very high.
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This whole stream basin manipulation demonstrated the influence of forest
trees on nutrient budgets of northeastern hardwood forests. 28
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 Applications: Altering Aquatic and
Terrestrial Ecosystems
• Human activity increasingly affects
ecosystem nutrient cycles.
• Agriculture and forestry can remove
nutrients from ecosystems.
• However, increasingly, human activity
enriches ecosystems with nutrients,
especially with nitrogen and phosphorus.

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• Nitrogen enrichment comes from a variety of
sources: combustion of fossil fuels,
agricultural fertilizers, land clearing, forest
burning, industry, and animal waste.
• Nitrogen from anthropogenic sources enters
the atmosphere as emissions or particulates,
producing air pollution.

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• Humans are also a major source of nutrient
inputs to aquatic ecosystems. Nutrient
enrichment of aquatic ecosystems can result
in water quality problems and
eutrophication ( a process generally
resulting in increased primary
production, anoxic conditions, and
reduced biodiversity).

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• Peierls et al. (1991) noted that while the
concentration and export of nitrate by rivers
is affected by complex biotic, abiotic, and
anthropogenic factors, a single variable,
human population density, explains most
of the variation in nitrate concentration and
export.

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Human population density and nitrate export from river basins.
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