Bio Sustainability - Biogeochemical Cycle

Research Paper Proposal: Biogeochemical Cycles

        Biogeochemical cycles are the process of inorganic matter cycling through interactions with organisms and it’s environment. The most common inorganic matter that are crucial to living organisms are carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. These inorganic matters move location, change state, enter and leave organisms as they continue through the cycle. They are called biogeochemical “cycle” as these inorganic matters go through the process, they come back to their original state that can then be repeated. These cycles happen in uniqueness in local scale but with little differences in process, it happens globally.

These biogeochemical cycles has been going on for an extremely long time, being an essential necessity for organic life. There has been fluctuation in amounts and percentages but studies show that it is clear that human activity has a sure impact on them. This paper will be discussing nitrogen cycles and phosphorus cycle in specific in their process, importance and how human activities alter the cycle. Also keeping sustainability in mind, the paper will talk about current efforts being put in for reducing the human effects and possible efforts that could be made to reduce them.

        As all the inorganic matter stated above, nitrogen is essential for organisms as they make up proteins in nucleic acids and of many other organic materials. The cycle happens through “the process of nitrogen fixation, ammonification (decay), nitrification, and denitrification” (Lagasee). Nitrogen is the most common substance forming the Earth’s atmosphere as it takes up 78% of it. Although so abundant, nitrogen cannot be taken in directly from the atmospheres for most of living organisms.