AP Environmental Science

Unit 5 Study Guide

Natural Biogeochemical Cycles

I. Spheres of the Earth:

- Geosphere: concentric regions of matter that make up the earth and its atmosphere, as the
lithosphere and hydrosphere

- Biosphere: contains all living things

- Hydrosphere: all the waters on Earths surface including rivers, lakes, and oceans
- Atmosphere: the envelope of gases surrounding the earth
- Lithosphere: the rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle
(lith- means rock)

II. Carbon Cycle:

- Fundamental element found in carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and nucleic acids
- Exchanged in between all the spheres of the earth
- Carbon sinks: major reservoirs of carbon
Marine sediments and sedimentary rocks
Oceans
Fossil Fuel deposits
Soil organic matter
Terrestrial plants
Marine shellfish

III. Nitrogen Cycle:

- Nitrogen makes up 78% of our atmosphere
- Needed for amino acids, proteins, and nucleic acids
- Atmospheric nitrogen is converted to nitrous oxide by lightning and deposited in the soil
by rain where it is assimilated by plants and either eaten by animals (and returned as
feces) or decomposed back to elemental nitrogen by bacteria, including the following
processes:
Nitrogen fixation: conversion of atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH4) or
nitrate (NO3-); biological fixation accounts for 98% of this process

Nitrification: process where ammonia is oxidized to nitrite (NO 3-) and nitrate
(NO2-); this conversion makes nitrogen into a form that is usable by plants
 AP Environmental Science
Unit 5 Study Guide

Natural Biogeochemical Cycles

Assimilation: process by which plants and animals incorporate the NO3- and
ammonia formed through nitrogen fixation and nitrification. Plants take up these
forms of nitrogen through their roots, and incorporate them into plant proteins
and nucleic acids

Ammonification: process in which the initial form of nitrogen found in amino

acids and nucleic acids is converted back into ammonia

Denitrification: process in which nitrates are reduced to gaseous nitrogen; used

by facultative anaerobes

- Human additions to the nitrogen cycle:

Extensive cultivation of legumes
Chemical fertilizers
Biomass burning
Cattle and feedlots
Industrial Processes

- Effects of Excess Nitrogen:

Fossil fuel combustion has contributed to sevenfold increase in nitrogen oxides
Precursor of troposphere ozone
Nitrous oxide is a significant greenhouse gas
Can cause eutrophication in bodies of water

IV. Phosphorus Cycle:

- Essential for the production of nucleotides, production of ATP, fats in cell membranes,
bones, teeth, and shells
- NOT found in the atmosphere
- Key element in fertilizers
 AP Environmental Science
Unit 5 Study Guide

Natural Biogeochemical Cycles

V. Water Cycle:
- you know this cycle
- in a state of dynamic equilibrium by which the rate of evaporation equals the rate of
precipitation
- Evapotranspiration: the process by which water is transferred from the land to the
atmosphere by evaporation from the soil and other surfaces and by transpiration from
plants

VI. Conservation of Energy and Matter:

- Law of Conservation of Matter: during an ordinary chemical change, there is no
detectable increase or decrease in the quantity of matter
- Law of Conservation of Energy: energy cannot be created or destroyed but can change its
form