How Materials Are Cycled

• Many different materials cycle through the abiotic and biotic components of an ecosystem
• All materials in the living world are recycled to provide the building blocks for future organisms
• The carbon cycle returns carbon form organisms to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide to be used by plants in photosynthesis
• The water cycle provides fresh water for plants and animals on land before draining into the seas. Water is continuously evaporated and precipitated.
• Living things are made up of materials they take from the world around them.
• plants turn elements like carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen from the soil and the air into complex compounds (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) that make up living organisms. These then get passed up the food chain
• The materials released and passed up the food chain by plants are returned to the environment in waste products, or when the organisms die and decay
• materials decay because they're broken down by microorganisms.
• Microorgansims digest decaying materials faster in warm, moist, aerobic conditions
• decay puts the materials needed for plants back into the soil