Biogeochemistry Flashcards
What is biogeochemistry?
The study of chemical components within the biosphere that allow it to function
How can the carbon cycle be split up in to?
Short-term and long-term
What is the important link between the short and long term parts of the carbon cycle?
The apparent deficit of carbon in the short-term cycle is counteracted by components that are only mentioned and explained in the long-term cycle.
What are the two stores of in the long-term that offset the deficit in the short-term?
Soil Carbon Storage
Oceanic Carbon Storage
How does carbon interact with the soil it is stored within?
Soil is captured and absorbed by the soil where over thousands of years the constant building up of pressure transforms it in to lignite then coal
How do peatland soils interact with carbon?
Peatland soils absorb and contain a lot of soil because they are incredibly moist and compact. This means that there is very little oxygen available to convert carbon in to CO2. This type of soil contains the most carbon stored within soils.
How does carbon interact with the oceanic storage?
Phytoplankton absorb the carbon dioxide for photosynthesis where it is then preserved in food chains and in decomposed animals. Eventually it will be re-released through respiration from heterotrophs
What threatened the earth’s ability to support complex life forms thousands of years ago?
Decomposed zooplankton containing carbon dioxide had sediments piled on top of them that converted them in to natural gas and oil. If it had not been buried then the carbon dioxide would have interacted with the atmosphere and altered the gas balance which would have been unsuitable for complex life forms
How are humans altering the carbon cycle, but how may this be slightly offset by plants?
We are responsible for producing carbon dioxide through burning fossil fuels, but plants use this during photosynthesis so in part they are mitigating the concentration increase
What makes nitrogen in the atmosphere not very bioavailable to plants?
Nitrogen is locked up in triple covalent bonds that are incredibly difficult to break down and for the plant to absorb for its fundamental functions.
What are plant’s main source of nitrogen?
Soil
Why is not much known about the nitrogen cycle?
Because it is incredibly complex and there are many aspects to it that remain misunderstood
What is the recent crucial thing we know about the nitrogen cycle?
Humans, through fertiliser application, are dramatically affecting the concentration of it within the soils
Why is phosphorus so important for photosynthesis?
Because it is used in a lot of processes to do with NADP+, NADPH, ADP and ATP which are fundamental components
Why is the phosphorus cycle known as the slow cycle?
Because the main driver of this cycle is weathering which is obviously a very slow process.
