This week in class, we began our project on biogeochemical cycles. (Bio-geo-chemical). These cycles take CNWPS all around the earth, carbon, nitrogen, water, phosphorus, and sulfur. For the project, we have chosen one cycle. We must create a comic strip that informs the reader about our cycle. We have to have some key words in the strip. My chosen cycle is the nitrogen cycle, so I’ll include information on that. There is a video in there if you would like to know more about the other cycles.
What are the cycles like?
A cycle is meant to take something around in a circular sort of motion, like the picture above. You can start with one thing, say precipitation, and then the water moves through runoff, groundwater, evaporation, condensation/transpiration, and then precipitation again. No matter where you start in a cycle, you’ll always end up back where you started.
The Nitrogen cycle
Before the cycle begins, nitrogen is just a gas, N2, that makes up 78% of our atmosphere. Then the cycle goes around to these little stops: nitrogen fixation, ammonia, fertilizers, assimilation, ammonification, nitrification, nitrates, eutrophication, denitrification, and nitrites. To make it less complicated, I’ll describe them one by one, but if that’s still a bit confusing, you can watch the full video.
Nitrogen fixation/Ammonification
Nitrogen fixation is when bacteria in the soil and roots of plants are taking in the nitrogen from the atmosphere. They then convert the nitrogen into usable ammonia. Ammonification is the same thing, where it helpfully converts the nitrogen into ammonia.
Plants need mineral nutrients, such as nitrogen in order to grow, but plain old nitrogen from the atmosphere cannot be used. In order for the plants to get the nitrogen they need, the bacteria in the soil and roots converts the unusable nitrogen into ammonia, a form of nitrogen that plants and other organisms can use.
Ammonia & Fertilizers
As said before, ammonia is the usable source of nitrogen for plants and other organisms. Ammonia can also be used as a fertilizer for plants since it helps them grow so well. Nitrogen is needed for organisms to survive, and ammonia is the way they can get it. Most fertilizers are made of animal waste, which is also surprisingly good for plants, but ammonia is another good way to supply a plant with nitrogen.
Assimilation
Assimilation is quite important for us humans. We need nitrogen too, and one way we can get it is by eating plants. Say we have a carrot plant. The bacteria in the carrot’s roots transform the nitrogen into ammonia fertilizers, letting the carrot grow. Then, a human would come and eat the carrot, receiving the amount of nitrogen they need from the carrot.
Nitrification
Nitrification is the process when ammonia found in the soil is converted to nitrates, which are inorganic form of nitrogen.
Nitrates
Nitrates can be leached, meaning that they leave the soil in drainage water. Then the nitrates move into a water supply, causing an algal bloom.
Eutrophication
Eutrophication is when the nitrates move into the water supply, causing a lot of algae to grow. Algal blooms are bad for the environment because when the algae dies, bacteria have to break it down, using lots of oxygen that humans need.
Denitrification & Nitrites
Denitrification is when the nitrates are reduced into nitrites. The nitrites are then reduced into more ammonia and nitrogen gas, thus starting the whole cycle over again.
S&EP: SP8: Communicating Information
Part of our big project this week is learning about our cycle, but also communicating our knowledge into a comic strip. It’s very important to have your facts straight before you begin the strip, because then you could have it all wrong, or mixed up the words and the people reading your strip won’t understand or will have the wrong information in their minds.
XCC: Cause and Effect
If plants could just use plain nitrogen instead of needing ammonia, then the whole cycle wouldn’t be needed. We need the nitrogen cycle because the plants can’t use the plain nitrogen. They need ammonia instead of nitrogen, so the whole cycle is there so that the plants can have ammonia.
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