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Ecology: Nutrient Cycles, Competition, Pollination, Plant Diseases

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Figures (10)

CO2 concentrations over the last 800,000 years as measured from ice cores (blue/green) and directly (black)
Knowledge about carbon in the core can be gained by analysing shear wave velocities.
Nutrient cycle of a typical terrestrial ecosystem
A simplified food web illustrating a three-trophic food chain (producers-herbivores-carnivores) linked to decomposers. The movement of mineral nutrients through the food chain, into the mineral nutrient pool, and back into the trophic system illustrates ecological recycling. The movement of energy, in contrast, is unidirectional and noncyclic.[15][16]
Carbon cycle schematic showing the movement of carbon between land, atmosphere, and oceans in billions of tons (gigatons) per year. Yellow numbers are natural fluxes, red are human contributions, and white are stored carbon. The effects of the slow (or deep) carbon cycle, such as volcanic and tectonic activity are not included.[1]
Amount of carbon stored in Earth's various terrestrial ecosystems, in gigatonnes[20]
A portable soil respiration system measuring soil CO2 flux

Key Points

  • A nutrient cycle (or ecological recycling) is the movement and exchange of inorganic and organic matter back into the production of matter.
  • The carbon cycle is a part of the biogeochemical cycle where carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of Earth.
  • The pools and processes of the nitrogen cycle are illustrated in the figure (Fig. 5) and table (Table 5). Fig. 5 Pools and processes of the nitrogen cycle.
  • For these reasons competition is often defined with­ out the specific requirement of resource depletion.
  • Pollination is the distribution of the whole male gametophytes which are called pollen grains.
  • With respect to these biotic causes of plant disease, plant pathologists describe what is called the ‘disease tri­ angle' where disease results from a combination of environmental conditions, host sus­ ceptibility, and the virulence of a disease-causing organism.

Terms

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