The Cycles of Matter Answers

The cycle repeats when the carbon stored in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide gas is taken in.

The animal releases the carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere during respiration.

The animal eats a plant and uses its carbohydrates for energy.

An animal eats a plant and the nitrogen becomes part of the animal’s proteins.

This nutrient is cycled between living things and the soil. Plants absorb this nutrient from the soil and turn it into organic compounds through assimilation. Animals eats the plants and pass the nutrient through the food chain from one organism to another. When the animal dies, it decomposes and returns the nutrient back to the soil. The nutrient can also enter the soil through weathering and erosion.

Identify the importance of water. Check all that apply.

78% of Earth’s atmosphere contains this nutrient in the form of gas. All living things require this nutrient to make proteins, and it is found in the waste products of many living things.

Step 1: Plants absorb phosphates in the soil and turn them into organic compounds through assimilation. Animals eat these plants and pass the phosphorus through the food chain.

Plants take in this nutrient when they perform photosynthesis. An animal eats the plant and uses its carbohydrates for energy. The animal releases the nutrient back into the atmosphere during respiration.

Identify the importance of carbon. Check all that apply.

This nutrient is not abundant, but it is essential to life. It is part of DNA and RNA and a component of bones and cell membranes.

Step 1: Bacteria, through nitrogen fixation and nitrification, convert nitrogen into a usable form. The animal dies and decomposes, returning nitrogen back to the soil.

An animal dies and decays, returning the phosphorus to the soil, and the cycle repeats.

Bacteria in the soil converts this nutrient into a usable form. Plant take up the usable nutrient through the soil and assimilate it into proteins, making it part of the plant. An animal eats the plants, and the nutrient becomes part of the animal. When the animal dies, it decomposes, returning the nutrient back to the soil.

Once nitrogen is in usable form, it is taken up by plants and assimilated into proteins..