Phosphorous Cycle

Importance of Phospherous

• Important to human bone health

• component to nucleic acids - DNA

• Major plant nutrient in soil

Cycle

• only cycle to occur totally on land

• Found in rocks and released through weathering and leeching

• Producers pick up Phospherous from soil and are then eaten by consumers

• Decomposers help return Phospherous back to soil after plant and animals die

Anthropogenic factors

• Phospherous rich fertilizers ( run off causes algae blooms, eutrophication by over abundance of nutrience)

• Animal waste (high in Phospherous and can contaminate water supply)