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The nitrogen cycle is of particular interest to ecologists because nitrogen availability can affect the rate of key ecosystem processes, including primary production and decomposition. Human activities such as fossil fuel combustion, use of artificial nitrogen fertilizers, and release of nitrogen in wastewater have dramatically altered the ...
A biogeochemical cycle, or more generally a cycle of matter, [1] is the movement and transformation of chemical elements and compounds between living organisms, the atmosphere, and the Earth's crust. Major biogeochemical cycles include the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle. In each cycle, the chemical element or molecule is ...
An example chemical cycle, a schematic representation of a Nitrogen cycle on Earth. This process results in the continual recycling of nitrogen gas involving the ocean. Chemical cycling describes systems of repeated circulation of chemicals between other compounds, states and materials, and back to their original state, that occurs in space ...
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.
Nitrogen cycle. Nitrification is the biological oxidation of ammonia to nitrate via the intermediary nitrite. Nitrification is an important step in the nitrogen cycle in soil. The process of complete nitrification may occur through separate organisms [1] or entirely within one organism, as in comammox bacteria. The transformation of ammonia to ...
Until modern times, nitrogen fixation was the major source of nitrogen for ecosystems. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria either live symbiotically with plants or live freely in the soil. The energetic cost is high for plants that support nitrogen-fixing symbionts—as much as 25% of gross primary production when measured in controlled conditions.
The most common denitrification process is outlined below, with the nitrogen oxides being converted back to gaseous nitrogen: 2 NO 3 − + 10 e − + 12 H + → N 2 + 6 H 2 O. The result is one molecule of nitrogen and six molecules of water. Denitrifying bacteria are a part of the N cycle, and consists of sending the N back into the atmosphere.
Nitrogen enters the ocean through precipitation, runoff, or as N 2 from the atmosphere. Nitrogen cannot be utilized by phytoplankton as N 2 so it must undergo nitrogen fixation which is performed predominantly by cyanobacteria. [82] Without supplies of fixed nitrogen entering the marine cycle, the fixed nitrogen would be used up in about 2000 ...