Cycles Worksheet - Mrs. Watts
Name:_________________________ Per:_______ Date:___________________
Cycles Worksheet
Carbon Cycle
Go to to answer the following questions. You may use other reliable internet sources, if necessary.
1. Label the carbon cycle below using the following terms: RESPIRATION, DECAYING MATTER, DECOMPOSERS, PRIMARY CONSUMERS, SECONDARY CONSUMERS, BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS, CO2, PHOTOSYNTHESIS. Not all words fit in a box.
1. Why is Carbon important?
2. What are seven places that carbon exists?
3. How does carbon enter the biotic part of the ecosystem, namely plants from the atmosphere?
4. How does it enter the soil?
5. How does carbon enter water? How do aquatic plants get carbon?
6. How do animals get carbon?
6. What are two ways carbon returns from animals into the water?
7. What is combustion, and how does it affect the carbon cycle?
8. How does deforestation affect the carbon cycle?
9. Explain how carbon is transferred from the atmosphere to plants to the soil and back to the atmosphere (what processes occur)?
10. Human activities have disrupted the carbon cycle in various ways. In the space below, address each human activity, citing the specific effect on the carbon cycle, the effect on the planet, and at least ONE way we could counteract or reduce the impact of that change.
|HUMAN ACTIVITY |EFFECT ON C CYCLE |EFFECT ON PLANET |REDUCE IMPACT |
|Burning fossil fuels | | | |
|Deforestation | | | |
11. What role do decomposers play in the carbon cycle?
Go to and answer the following questions. You may use other reliable internet sources, if necessary.
a. What causes the greenhouse effect (warming of the earth’s atmosphere)?
b. What causes global warming?
Phosphorus Cycle
Label the carbon cycle below using the following terms: PLANTS, WEATHERING OF PHOSPATE FROM ROCKS, SEDIMENTATIONS (NEW ROCKS), DETRITUS SETTLING TO THE BOTTOM, DECOMPOSERS, ANIMALS, GEOLOGICAL UPLIFTING, RAIN, RUN OFF, PHOSPHATE IN SOIL, LEACHING, PHOSPHATE IN WATER SOLUTION, CHEMICAL PERCIPITATION. Not all words fit in a box.
[pic]
1. Why is phosphorus important to living organisms?
2. How is the phosphorus cycle different from the nitrogen or carbon cycles?
Hydrologic (water) Cycle
You may use other reliable Internet sources, if necessary.
Label the carbon cycle below using the following terms listed in the diagram.
1. How is water stored on Earth during the water cycle?
2. Water moves into the atmosphere through ____________ and returns to the Earth through _______________.
3. What is the difference between infiltration and runoff?
4. Where do groundwater and runoff usually end up?
5.What are three ways global warming might affect the water cycle?
Go to the web site: for help with the nitrogen cycle
Nitrogen cycle notes
1. Label the nitrogen cycle below using the following terms: N2 IN THE ATMOSPHERE, DECOMPOSERS, DENITRIFYING BACTERIA, PLANTS, NITROGEN-FIXING BACTERIA, ASSIMILATION. Not all white boxes will be filled out. Not all the words fit in a box.
[pic]
1. Why is nitrogen important?
2. How is nitrogen from the atmosphere, the abiotic part of the ecosystem, converted in to the biotic part of the ecosystem in organisms?
3. How do consumers get nitrogen?
4. How does nitrogen return to the atmosphere?
Go to and answer the following questions. You may use other reliable internet sources, if necessary.
5. What is nitrogen fixation?
6. Nitrogen from the soil is then transferred where?
7. Nitrogen can be transferred from plants to two different places.
a. List the two places
b. Describe how this occurs.
8. How does nitrogen in the soil get back to the atmosphere?
9. What class of organism is vital in the recycling of nutrients in the ecosystem?
10. Scroll to the section titled Ecological Implications of Human Alterations to the Nitrogen Cycle.
Describe one negative effect of disruption of the N cycle on terrestrial systems.
Describe one negative effect of disruption of the N cycle on aquatic systems.
Go the the web site: for help. You may use other reliable internet sources, if necessary.
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.