Course

CourseName:
Name:
Chemistry and Environmental
Studies
Course Code : CHY 1009

Module 5 : Nutrient Cycles and

Human Impacts on Nutrient Cycles

Presenter : V V Sreenivasu M
Department of Chemistry
VIT-AP University
Amaravati
 Contents
• Matter and nutrients
• Nutrient cycles
and human impact on nutrient cycles
Matter and nutrients
Matter

•Matter is anything that has volume and

mass.

•Everything in the physical world that

surrounds you/yourself is composed of
matter.

•Based on the elemental composition we

can classify the matter either as organic
matter or inorganic mater.

•The dry weight of all organic matter

contained is referred as biomass which
comes from plants and animals.
 Organic and
Inorganic Matter
Inorganic matter:
Organic Matter:
All minerals, CaCO3, Fe2O3, SiO2, NaCl,
Organic matter is composed of C, H,
phosphates and sulphates of metal ions.
and O. It may also contain other
elements such as N, S, and P. They are mostly broken-down rock consisting
Examples: of varying mixtures of sand, silt, clay, and
gravel.
Paper, and wood, leaves, crop
residues, food wastes etc.

Organic matter and inorganic matter are the sources of nutrients

and energy that flows in a food web or food chain.
 Nutrients
• A nutrient is a component in foods that an organism uses to
survive, grow, develop and reproduce, and they can be acquired
from the environment
• There are 6 basic nutrients,
Carbohydrates Proteins Fats
Vitamins Minerals Water
• Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats are Macronutrients
• Vitamins, Minerals are Micronutrients.
• Water is called vital nutrient
 Macronutrients
Carbohydrates Proteins Fats
Glucose (Constituents of Proteins Linoleic acid
are amino acids) (Omega-6)
Fructose
Alanine -Linoleic acid
Sucrose
Aspartic acid (Omega-3)
Maltose

Macronutrients provide the bulk energy that an organism’s

metabolic system need to function.
 Micronutrients
Vitamins and minerals are micronutrients required by the body to carry out a
range of normal functions. However, these micronutrients are not produced in our
bodies and must be derived from the food we eat.

Vitamins
are organic compounds present in fruits.
e. g. Vitamin A, E, K, B-Complex.

Minerals
are inorganic elements present
in soil and water, which are absorbed
by plants or consumed by animals.
Examples,
calcium, sodium, and potassium,
Other trace elements,
copper, iodine, and zinc.
 Composition of Human Body

Other trace elements <1

Flow of Matter
in an Ecosystem
-Nutrient Cycles
The elements and
compounds that make up Biosphere
nutrients move
continually through air,
water, soil, rock, and
living organisms within
ecosystems, as well as in
the biosphere in cycles
called bio-geochemical
cycles (literally, life-earth-
chemical cycles), or
nutrient cycles.
 Basic Nutrient Cycles

• Water cycle
There is no separate hydrogen
• Carbon cycle and oxygen cycle,
because, these elements
• Nitrogen cycle are part of the basic nutrient
cycles.
• Phosphorus cycle
Any nutrient cycle can be broken
• Sulphur cycles down as two major components.
1. Resources (or reservoirs)
2. Natural processes
 Reservoirs of Nutrients
• As nutrients move through their bio-geochemical
cycles, they may accumulate in certain portions of the
cycles and remain there for different periods of time.

• These temporary storage sites such as the atmosphere, the

oceans and other bodies of water, underground deposits,
plants, animals, and decomposers, are called reservoirs.
 Process of Nutrient Cycles

• Processes of nutrient cycles refers to metabolic, atmospheric,

geological process that moves nutrients from one reservoir to
another.

• In this process, nutrients get absorbed, transferred, released

and reabsorbed in the reservoir.
 Examples of Natural Process and Process
affected by humans

• Most of the process in nutrient cycle occurs naturally,

e.g. Respiration, Photosynthesis, Volcanic eruption,
Forest fire etc.

• Some process are associated with human activity,

e. g. mining of minerals, burning coal and fossil fuels etc.,

• The process accompanied by human activity can significantly influence

the nutrient cycles.
Water Cycle
Water cycle (Hydrologic Cycle)

•Water is an amazing substance that is

necessary for life on the earth.

•Because water dissolves many nutrient

compounds, it is a major medium for
transporting nutrients within and between
ecosystems.

•The hydrologic cycle, or water cycle,

collects, purifies, and distributes the earth’s
fixed supply of water.
Water Cycle-Reservoir and Process
 Water Cycle – Reservoirs

• Rivers
• Ocean
• Lakes
• Ground water aquifer
• Ice and Snow.
 Water Cycle – Natural Process

• Evaporation
• Transpiration
• Condensation
• Precipitation
• Run off
• Infiltration and percolation
 Water Cycle-Process
The water cycle is powered by energy from the sun
and involves three major processes—

• Evaporation: Incoming solar energy causes evaporation of

water from the earth’s oceans, lakes, rivers, and soil.
Evaporation changes liquid water into water vapor in the
atmosphere

• Precipitation: gravity draws the water back to the earth’s

surface as precipitation (rain, snow, dew)

• Transpiration: water that reaches the atmosphere evaporates

from the surfaces of plants, through a process called
transpiration, and from the soil.
 Water cycle- various paths

Water returning to the earth’s surface as precipitation takes

various paths.
• Most precipitation falling on terrestrial ecosystems becomes
surface runoff.

• This water flows into streams, which eventually carry water back to
lakes and oceans, from which it can evaporate to repeat the cycle.

• Some precipitation is converted to ice that is stored in glaciers

 Water cycle- various paths
• Some precipitation sinks through soil and permeable rock
formations to underground layers of rock, sand, and gravel
called aquifers, where it is stored as groundwater.

• Some surface water also seeps into the upper

layers of soils where it is used by plants, and some evaporates
from the soils back into the atmosphere.

• Some of the water combines with carbon dioxide during

photosynthesis to produce high-energy organic compounds
such as carbohydrates.
Effect of human activities on water cycle
We alter the water cycle in three major ways

• Consume excess of water for domestic, agricultural and

industrial use.

• Covering land with concrete

• Urban development with poor planning (infiltration and

percolation process, run-off patterns are altered)
 Effect of human activities on water cycle
Consuming excess of water
Due to over population and industrialization water is withdrawn
from the reservoirs at much faster rate than nature’s capacity to
replenish. This can cause damage to water reservoir and water cycle.
Effect of human activities on water cycle
Covering land with concrete:
Mining, road building, and other activities cover much of the land
with buildings, concrete, and asphalt.
This increases runoff, reduces infiltration that would normally
recharge groundwater supplies, accelerates topsoil erosion, and
increases the risk of flooding.

04th December 2020

Puducherry
Effect of human activities on water cycle
Urban development with poor planning
We also increase flooding when we fill wetlands for urban
development (poor planning)

The undisturbed wetlands provide the natural service of flood

control, acting like sponges to absorb and hold overflows of
water from drenching rains or rapidly melting snow.
 Water cycle- Summary
Three major processes in water cycle are
• Evaporation

• Precipitation

• Transpiration

Human activities

• Withdrawing freshwater at faster rates

• Covering lands with concrete and buildings

• Urban development without proper planning

Carbon cycle
 Carbon Cycle
• Carbon-building block of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, DNA,
vitamins.

• Circulates- biosphere, the atmosphere, and parts of the

hydrosphere

• Based on- carbon dioxide (CO2)

 Reservoirs of Carbon Cycle
• Atmospheric CO2 (0.039% of the volume of the
earth’s atmosphere)

• Organic contents of plants and animals including marine

organisms

• Sediments (e. g. Limestone and Dolomite)

• Dissolved CO2 in ocean

• Fossil fuels (Coal and crude oil)

 Natural Process in Carbon Cycle-Terestrial
Ecosystem
• Photosynthesis – facilitates the fixing of
atmospheric CO2 in living organisms

• Aerobic respiration – facilitates the release of CO2

from living organism to atmosphere

• Decomposition - microbes facilitates the releases

CO2 from dead plants and animals to atmosphere
 Natural Process in Carbon Cycle-Marine
Ecosystem

Decomposers role
• On Land-Decomposers release the carbon stored
in the bodies of dead organisms on land back into
the air as CO2

• In ocean water, decomposers release carbon that

can be stored as insoluble carbonates in bottom
sediment
 Natural Process in Carbon Cycle-Marine
Ecosystem
• CO2 Diffusion – Diffusion of CO2 from atmosphere to
ocean water

• Sedimentation – CO2 dissolved in ocean enters in to

marine organism through photosynthesis, ultimately with
the help of microbes it forms limestone and dolomite
sediments.

• Compaction – Process of compacting organic residues

between sediments to form fossil fuels (very slow process)
 Fossil Fuel and Carbon cycle
• Over millions of years, buried deposits of dead plant matter and
bacteria in ocean are compressed between layers of sediment,
where high pressure and heat convert them to carbon-containing
fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas

• This carbon is not released to the atmosphere as CO2 for recycling

until these fuels are extracted and burned.
 Carbon cycle- Human activities
Burning fossil fuels
• The carbon in fossil fuel is not released to the atmosphere as CO2
until we burn them for electricity and powering transportation
vehicles.

• In only a few hundred years, we have extracted and burned huge

quantities of fossil fuels that took millions of years to form.

• It contributes to the excessive CO2 load in the atmosphere.

Carbon cycle-Human activities
We also alter the carbon cycle by
Clearing vegetation clearing carbon-absorbing vegetation
from forests (especially tropical forests
faster than it can grow back).
 Carbon Cycle-Climate Change
CO2 in carbon cycle is a natural greenhouse gas,
(amounts to 0.039% of volume as compared to other gases)

• if the carbon cycle removes too much CO2 from the

atmosphere, the atmosphere will be too cooled.

• if it generates too much CO2, the atmosphere will get warmer.

Thus, even slight changes in this cycle caused by natural

or human factors can affect the earth’s climate
A slight change in average global temperature from pre-industrial era
as compared to 2019 has a huge influence on climate.
for example, having high temperature (45 – 50oC) in summer and
reduced rainfall at certain local regions.
 Carbon cycle- Human activities

Carbon footprint

• A carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases—

primarily carbon dioxide—released into the atmosphere by a
particular human activity.

• Higher carbon foot print can adversely affect both the rate of
energy flow and the cycling of nutrients within the carbon
cycle.
The Nitrogen Cycle
 Nitrogen Cycle

• Nitrogen is a crucial component of proteins, many

vitamins, and nucleic acids such as DNA

• The major reservoir for nitrogen is the atmosphere.

Chemically unreactive nitrogen gas (N2) makes up 78%
of the volume of the atmosphere.

• However, N2 cannot be absorbed and used directly

as a nutrient by multicellular plants or animals
Nitrogen Cycle
 Process in Nitrogen Cycle
There are four major process in nitrogen cycle. These are called
Nitrogen Cycle steps.
Nitrogen fixation - Conversion of atmospheric N2 to NH3 and NH4+ ion

Nitrification - Conversion of NH3 and NH4+ ion to nitrate NO3-

Ammonification - Release of N from dead animals as NH3 and NH4+

Denitrification – Conversion of NO3-, NH3 and NH4+ to N2 and

release back to the atmosphere
“All these process are performed by microorganisms such
as bacteria and algae. Without these tiny species there is no
multicellular organism will exist on this planet”
 Human activities -effect on nitrogen cycle
1. Nitric oxide release
• We add large amounts of nitric oxide (NO) into the atmosphere
when N2 and O2 combine as we burn any fuel at high
temperatures in vehicles or any industrial applications.

• This gas can be converted to nitrogen dioxide gas (NO2) and

nitric acid vapor (HNO3), which can return to the earth’s surface
as damaging acid deposition, commonly called acid rain.
 Human activities affect on nitrogen cycle
2. Nitrous oxide release (N2O)

We add nitrous oxide (N2O) to the atmosphere

1. Through the action of anaerobic bacteria on commercial

inorganic fertilizer or organic animal manure applied to the
soil.
2. Reaction of O2 and N2 in an vehicle engine

This greenhouse gas can warm the atmosphere and deplete

stratospheric ozone.
Human activities affect on nitrogen cycle
3. Excess nitrates (NO3–) in water
• We upset the nitrogen cycle in aquatic ecosystems by adding
excess nitrates (NO3–) to bodies of water through agricultural
runoff of fertilizers and through discharges from municipal
sewage systems.

• Large amount (overload) of nitrates and phosphates in water

body can cause excess growth of algae (called eutrophication)
and that ultimately lead to form dead zones.

Dead zone is an Oxygen (O2)

depleted water bodies formed due
to high level of aerobic activity of
microbes on dead algae.
 Nitrogen Cycle- Summary
Four processes in nitrogen cycle are
Nitrogen fixation

Nitrification

Ammonification

Denitrification

Human activities

• Nitric oxide release

• Nitrous oxide release

• Excess nitrates (NO3–) in water

Phosphorus Cycle
 Phosphorus Cycle
Phosphorus is present as phosphates (PO43-) in biologically
important molecules and biominerals

• Nucleic acids

• ADP and ATP

• bones and teeth

The source of phosphate is minerals in lithosphere,

hydrosphere, and biosphere.
In contrast to the cycles of water, carbon, and nitrogen, the
phosphorus cycle does not include the atmosphere.
 Phosphorus Cycle
• The phosphorus cycle is slow compared to the water, carbon, and
nitrogen cycles.

rocks containing Phosphate

Water

Plants

Consumers

Decomposers
 Phosphorus Cycle

• Amount of phosphate in lithosphere is very small.

• The lack of phosphate lithosphere often limits plant

growth on land

• Most soils contain little phosphate

• Phosphorus (as phosphate salts mined from the earth) is

applied to the soil as a fertilizer
Effect of human activities on Phosphorus Cycle
Human activities

• Removing large amounts of phosphate from the earth to make

fertilizer.

• Clearing tropical forests that can reduce phosphate levels in

tropical soils

• These activities releases phosphates in large quantities enter

into streams, lakes, and oceans; there they stimulate the
growth of producers such as algae and various aquatic plants.
The Sulfur Cycle
 The Sulfur Cycle
• Much of the earth’s sulfur is stored underground in rocks and
minerals and in the form of sulfate (SO42–) salts buried deep under
ocean sediments.

• Sulfur also enters the atmosphere in the form of

H2 S

SO2

SO42–

• Plant roots absorb sulfate ions and incorporate the sulfur as an

essential component of many proteins.
 The Sulfur Cycle
1. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S)—a colorless, highly
poisonous gas with a rotten-egg smell—is released from
active volcanoes

from organic matter broken down by anaerobic decomposers in

flooded swamps

2. Sulfur dioxide (SO2), a colorless and suffocating

gas, also comes from volcanoes

3. Particles of sulfate (SO42–) salts, such as ammonium

sulfate, enter the atmosphere from sea spray, dust
storms, and forest fires.
 The Sulfur Cycle
• In the oxygen-deficient environments of flooded
soils, freshwater wetlands, specialized bacteria convert sulfate
ions to sulfide ions (S2–).

• The sulfide ions can then react with metal ions to form
insoluble metallic sulfides, which are deposited as rock or
metal ores (often extracted by mining and converted to
various metals), and the cycle continues.
 The Sulfur Cycle
Dimethyl sulfide role

• Certain marine algae produce large amounts of volatile

dimethyl sulfide, or DMS (CH3SCH3).

• Tiny droplets of DMS serve as nuclei for the condensation

of water into droplets found in clouds.

• In this way, changes in DMS emissions can affect cloud

cover and climate.
 The Sulfur Cycle
Dimethyl sulfide- Acid rain
In the atmosphere, DMS is converted to sulfur dioxide, some of
which in turn is converted to sulfur trioxide gas (SO3) and to tiny
droplets of sulfuric acid (H2SO4)

[O]
DMS SO2
[O]
SO2 SO3
H2O
SO3 H2SO4

These droplets fall to the earth as components of acid deposition,

which along with other air pollutants can harm trees and aquatic life.
 The Sulfur Cycle
Dimethyl sulfide- Acid rain
• DMS also reacts with other atmospheric chemicals such as
ammonia to produce tiny particles of sulfate salts.

[O] H2O +NH3

DMS SO3 Sulfate salts

These particles fall to the earth as components of acid deposition,

which along with other air pollutants can harm trees and aquatic life.
 The Sulfur Cycle-Human Activities
Human activities have affected the sulfur cycle primarily
by releasing large amounts of sulfur dioxide (SO2) into the
atmosphere

We release sulfur to the atmosphere in three ways.

1. Burning sulfur-containing coal

2. Refining sulfur-containing oil (petroleum) to make gasoline

3. Extracting metals such as copper, lead, and zinc from their

sulphide ores.
 The Sulfur Cycle-Human activities
Once the sulfur is in the atmosphere, SO2 is converted to
droplets of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and particles of sulfate (SO42–)
salts, which return to the earth as acid deposition.