Nutrients refer to substances like water, carbon, and nitrogen which are essential for the survival of living things. Macronutrients refer to the components that are needed in large quantities by the living things for survival such as the big six namely carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. On the other hand, micronutrients are component needed in very minute amounts by diverse kinds of life such as boron, copper, and molybdenum among others (Raghunath, 2018).
The major global biogeochemical cycles are Hydrological Cycle; Gascon's nutrient Cycle; Nitrogen Cycle; Sedimentary Nutrient Cycle; Phosphorus Cycle; and Sulfur Cycle. The hydrological cycle is the process through which the compound interchange from the earth's surface and the atmosphere through precipitation and evaporation (Raghunath, 2018). It is highly reliant on the interaction of different forces that involves the interaction between atmospheric cycle and the topography. The distribution of the key ecosystems is reliant on the exchanges. Gascons Nutrient Cycle entails the carbon cycles and nitrogen cycle. The carbon cycle is the simplest of all the cycles and its key reservoir is ocean where it is maintained as bicarbonate. It comprises about 0.03 % of the air (Ciais et al., 2014). Its cycle involves movement from the atmosphere to produces, to the consumers and to the decomposers and back to the decomposers and back to the atmosphere (Ciais et al., 2014). A significant amount of biologically fixed CO2 is generated into the atmosphere through respiratory actions among the producers and consumers (Ciais et al., 2014). Nitrogen cycle, on the other hand, is complex but absolute and ideal cycle. It is about79% of the atmospheric gases, however, an organism does not the atmospheric nitrogen. It is used by the organism in its organic form namely ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, and in its organic form urea, and protein among others. The sedimentary nutrient cycle is another nutrient rather than oxygen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen that living things need for survival such as calcium, phosphorous, chlorine, sulfur, iron, iodine, copper and zinc among others. A living organism requires only traces of these elements. The fourth is the phosphorous cycle (Ciais et al., 2014). This is a key component of protoplasm and plays a significant role in matters productivity. Last but not least cycle is Sulphur Cycle. A few living organisms meet their sulfur necessities through amino acid and cysteine. The major source of biologically important sulfur is inorganic sulfate.
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Of the five, one major global cycle is the hydrological cycle. The hydrological cycle is the process through which the water is transferred from the atmosphere to the ground and into the underground and back into the atmosphere (Ochiai, 2009). The biota of the ecosystem play a significant role in the cycle and being there of the biota does not influence the movement of the cycle. But it is a determined fact that a considerable amount of water is integrated by the biota of the ecosystem in protoplasmic combination and there is a tangible return to the atmosphere through transpiration (Lenton, 2009). Annual precipitation is about 4.46 geogram, and approximately 0.99 geogram hit the land surface while 3.47 geogram hit the ocean surface. The different parts of the earth have a different amount of water measured in geograms. For instance primary lithosphere-250,000; Ocean 13,800; Sedimentary rocks 2,100; Polar Caps 167; Circulating groundwater 2.5; Inland water 0.25; Atmospheric water vapour 0.13. All this add up to 266, 069.88 geogram (Raghunath, 2018).
Global precipitation cycle relies on the interaction between various forces. The key determinant of these forces is the relation between atmospheric movement and the topography. The distribution of the primary ecosystem relies on this relation (Ochiai, 2009, Lenton, 2009). The rate and the amount of precipitation is as essential as those of evaporation, the ratio of the two aspects creates the key factor in establishing the distribution of specific kinds of the ecosystem (Raghunath, 2018). It is worth noting that a lot of water evaporates from the ocean than which it falls on it through rainfall and on the contrary a lesser amount of water evaporates from land and more fall on it through rainfall. This confirms that rainfall that supports land ecosystem originate from evaporated water from the ocean.
Fig1: Depicting Hydrological Cycle- Arrow shows the circulation of water between Elements of Biosphere
In conclusion, from the above, it is evident that biogeochemical cycling of micronutrient and macronutrient play a significant role in the sustaining living organism and any human activities interfering with these activities will have a significant influence such as global warming witnessed today.
References
Ciais, P., Sabine, C., Bala, G., Bopp, L., Brovkin, V., Canadell, J., ... & Jones, C. (2014). Carbon and other biogeochemical cycles. In Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. The contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (pp. 465-570). Cambridge University Press.
Lenton, T. M. (2009). Earth As a Self-Regulating System. Environmental Structure and Function: Earth System , 179.
Ochiai, E. I. (2009). BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLING OF MICRONUTRIENTS AND OTHER ELEMENTS. Earth System: History and Natural Variability-Volume IV , 4 , 229.
Raghunath M., (2018). Top 5 Types of Biogeochemical Cycle | Ecology. Retrieved on 11 May 2018 from http://www.biologydiscussion.com/ecology/biogeochemical-cycle/top-5-types-of-biogeochemical-cycle-ecology/59818
