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Nitrogen-15 (15 N) tracing is a technique to study the nitrogen cycle using the heavier, stable nitrogen isotope 15 N.Despite the different weights, 15 N is involved in the same chemical reactions as the more abundant 14 N and is therefore used to trace and quantify conversions of one nitrogen compound to another.
Food chain in a Swedish lake. Osprey feed on northern pike, which in turn feed on perch which eat bleak which eat crustaceans.. A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web, often starting with an autotroph (such as grass or algae), also called a producer, and typically ending at an apex predator (such as grizzly bears or killer whales), detritivore (such as earthworms and woodlice ...
The flow of energy in an ecosystem is an open system; the Sun constantly gives the planet energy in the form of light while it is eventually used and lost in the form of heat throughout the trophic levels of a food web. Carbon is used to make carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, the major sources of food energy. These compounds are oxidized to ...
Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at seventh in total abundance in the Milky Way and the Solar System.
A simplified food web illustrating a three-trophic food chain (producers-herbivores-carnivores) linked to decomposers. The movement of mineral nutrients through the food chain, into the mineral nutrient pool, and back into the trophic system illustrates ecological recycling. The movement of energy, in contrast, is unidirectional and noncyclic.
Nitrogen plays a vital role in the nitrogen cycle, a complex biogeochemical process that involves the transformation of nitrogen between different chemical forms and its movement through various environmental compartments such as the atmosphere, soil, water, and living organisms. [1]
Nitrogen is present in the environment in a wide variety of chemical forms including organic nitrogen, ammonium (NH + 4), nitrite (NO − 2), nitrate (NO − 3), nitrous oxide (N 2 O), nitric oxide (NO) or inorganic nitrogen gas (N 2). Organic nitrogen may be in the form of a living organism, humus or in the intermediate products of organic ...
Top diagram shows potentials at pH 0; bottom diagram shows potentials at pH 14. [ 5 ] Industrially, ammonia (NH 3 ) is the most important compound of nitrogen and is prepared in larger amounts than any other compound, because it contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and ...