ABIOTIC COMPONENTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT

PHYSICAL FACTORS

• Energy, light, water, minerals

• Lifeless but useful

SUN

ultimate source of energy

Carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, and molecules

construction and maintenance

HABITAT

structure and location of space an organism inhabit.

ABIOTIC COMPONENTS

•Influences weather and climate

•Temperature

•Wind

•Relative Humidity

•Precipitate

•Soil building

MATTER

It is constant and it cycles within the biosphere.

Biogeochemical Processes

1.Hydrologic Cycle

2.Carbon Cycle

3.Nitrogen Cycle

4. Phosphorus Cycle

5. Sulfur Cycle

6. Rock Cycle

HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

Distribution of Water in the Planet

EVAPORATION

it the process in the water cycle that turns liquid water into water vapor or into gas. Water goes into the atmosphere from Earth’s surface.

EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

refers to the combined processes of direct evaporation at the ground surface and through the process of transpiration by plants.

CONDENSATION

the change of the physical state of matter from the gas phase (vapor) into the liquid phase and is the reverse of vaporization.

COOLING PROCESS

water vapor cools as it rises in the atmosphere.

DEW POINT

the temperature at which the air becomes saturated with water vapor.

CLOUD FORMATION

It is formed through clustering of vapor into condensation nuclei.

PRECIPITATION

water released from clouds in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, or hail.

RAIN

It falls when the water making up clouds has become heavy enough to fall to the Earth.

SNOW

form in clouds where the temperature is below freezing as ice crystals or groups of many ice crystals

SLEET

forms when a partially melted snowflake that has travelled through a warm layer or air, or raindrop fall through a freezing layer of air. This last layer causes the raindrop to freeze or the melted snowflake to refreeze.

HAIL

forms as a result of the strong updrafts common in thunderstorm.

SURFACE RUNOFF

the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources.

INFILTRATION

the process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil.

CARBON

Twenty percent (20%) of our body weight is composed of this.

6 Processes involved in the cycling of carbon

•photosynthesis

•cellular respiration

•sedimentation and burial

•extraction and combustion

•weathering

•ocean-atmosphere interchange

NITROGEN

78% of the Earth’s atmosphere is composed of this.

One of the macronutrients that is needed by plants.

Macronutrients (NPK) – nutrients needed by plants in large amounts

5 Processes involved the cycling of carbon

•nitrogen fixation

•nitrification

•assimilation

•ammonification

•denitrification

PHOSPHORUS

•important to cell membranes and of molecules necessary for life including DNA, RNA, ADP and ATP.

•Large amount is confined into rocks, soil and sediments in the ocean

•Macronutrients (NPK) – nutrients needed by plants in large amounts

•does not have an atmospheric content

•Eutrophication - the process of enrichment of waters with excess plant nutrients, primarily phosphorus and nitrogen, which leads to enhanced growth of algae, periphyton, or macrophytes.

SULFUR

occurs in all living matter as a component of certain amino acids.

•It is abundant in the soil in proteins and, through a series of microbial transformations, ends up as sulfates usable by plants.

ACID RAIN

is corrosive rain caused by rainwater falling to the ground through sulfur dioxide gas, turning it into weak sulfuric acid, which causes damage to aquatic ecosystems.

OXYGEN

Colorless gas at normal temperatures and pressures.

•Contains two oxygen atoms

•Chemical element with an atomic number of 8

•Essential for sustenance of life for living organisms

•Taken up by animals, which covert it to carbon dioxide

•Plants, in turn, utilize carbon dioxide