The Nitrogen Cycle - APES

Nitrogen Cycle

What Chemical Symbol does the Nitrogen Cycle START with?

N2 (Atmospheric Nitrogen)

What is it called when Nitrogen goes from N2 to NH3?

Nitrogen Fixation

What are 3 ways nitrogen can be fixed?

Biological, Environmental, Human Impact

ONE way in which Nitrogen is Fixed BIOLOGICALLY

Nitrogen fixing bacteria, living in nodules found in roots of the LEGUME family of plants

ONE way in which Nitrogen is Fixed ENVIRONMENTALLY

Lightning, Forest Fires, Hot Lava Flows

ONE way in which Nitrogen is Fixed through HUMAN IMPACT

Burning Fossil Fuels, Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizers, Cultivation of Legumes

Define Nitrogen Fixation

Any natural or environmental process that causes free nitrogen into the living systems

What is it called when NH3 changes to NO2?

Nitrification

What do the bacteria convert the nitrogen into during NITROGEN FIXATION? What is this PROCESS called?

Ammonia (NH3) through Ammonification

Organic N can also be converted to NH4 through AMMONIFICATION through what? (This usually happens at the END of the cycle so NITROGEN CYCLE can begin all over again)

Decay of Dead things, done by decomposers, converted to ammonium

Once nitrogen is NH3, nitrogen produced by Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria is absorbed by plants, which is then consumed by other animals through WHAT PROCESS

Assimilation (Nitrogen Uptake)

The process when NH4 (Ammonium) is converted to NO2 (Nitrate) and then to NO3 (Nitrate)

Nitrogen Fixation

After Nitrification, Nitrogen can do of of WHAT TWO THINGS?

Leaching (Seeps into SOIL) OR Assimilaton (ABSORBED by PLANTS)

Last step in the Nitrogen Cycle when NO3 is converted back into N2 is called WHAT PROCESS?

Denitrification

Define Denitrifcation

NO3 back to N2, removes nitrogen from ecosystems back into the Atmosphere where process starts all over again