AP Enviro: Phosphoros Cycle

Anothing biologically important element is phosphorus, which is an important component of DNA, RNA, ATP, making it another limiting reactant

The phosphorus cycle is unique because it is the one cycle that does not have an atmospheric phase

• Because of this, phosphorus travels slowly. Human input has major impacts because of this 

Phosphorus travels through assimilation (uptake into plants) and mineralization (breakdown of material)

Its typical form is phosphate ion (PO₄^3-) 

The abiotic processes that move phosphorus include sedimentation, geologic uplift, and weathering and erosion 

Rocks weather, erosion carries it into the soil, once in the soil, it is uptaken by plants and algae, animals then get phosphate by consuming plants, they decompose, going back into the soil, runoff into bodies of water (weathering → bodies of water too), plants and algae in water, decompose, can go into sedimentation

Human impacts come from farms (phosphorus runoff from fertilizers that goes into bodies of water; or leaching into soil), detergents (runoff into sewage treatment plant, going into bodies of water)

• Excess nutrients in bodies of water create algal blooms, increasing mass of algae in bodies of water. The algae then die and their decomposition leads to a hypoxic or low oxygen area, and then a dead zone, as organisms cannot survive in hypoxic conditions 

  • Tends to be seasonal as temperature changes, water turns over, and fish can be alive again 

• Detergents has led to bans in phosphorus detergents