Post on 15-Jul-2015
2005-2006
Carbon cycleCO2 inatmosphere
Diffusion RespirationPhotosynthesis
Photosynthesis
Plants and algae
PlantsAnimals
Industry and home
Combustion of fuels
Animals
Carbonates in sediment
Bicarbonates
Deposition ofdead material
Depositionof deadmaterial
Fossil fuels(oil, gas, coal)
Dissolved CO2
2005-2006
Birds
Herbivores
Plants
Amino acids
CarnivoresAtmosphericnitrogen
Loss to deep sediments
Fish
Plankton withnitrogen-fixingbacteria
Nitrogen-fixingbacteria(plant roots)
Nitrogen-fixingbacteria (soil)
Denitrifyingbacteria
Death, excretion, feces
Nitrifying bacteria
Soil nitrates
Excretion
Decomposing bacteria
Ammonifying bacteria
Nitrogen cycle
2005-2006Loss to deep sediment
Rocks andminerals
Soluble soilphosphate
Plants andalgae
Plants Urine
Land animals
Precipitates
Aquaticanimals
Animal tissueand feces
Animal tissueand feces
Decomposers(bacteria andfungi)
Decomposers(bacteria andfungi)
Phosphatesin solution
Loss indrainage
Phosphorus cycle
2005-2006
Impact of ecology as a science• Ecology provides a scientific context for
evaluating environmental issues– Rachel Carson, in 1962,
in her book, Silent Spring,warned that use ofpesticides such as DDTwas causing populationdeclines in manynon-target organisms
2005-2006
Barry Commoner’s Laws of Ecology• Everything is connected to everything else• Everything must go somewhere
there is no such place as “away”• Nature knows best – technology only does so much• There is no such thing as a free lunch
Laws of Unintended Consequences
2005-2006
Acid Precipitation nitrogen oxides sulfur dioxide
• power plants• industry• transportation
2005-2006
BioMagnification• PCBs– General Electric
manufacturing plant on Hudson River
– PCBs in sediment– striped bass nesting
areas