GEOG106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Primary Production, Nitrogen Fixation, Nitrogen Cycle
3 Apr 2017
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Document Summary
Cycles and patterns in biosphere: boundaries hard to pin down, most of organisms exist at the interface between the atmosphere and lithosphere. Our primary focus is terrestrial biota vs oceanic (plankton, nekton, benthos: biogeographers are especially interested in the relationships between different organisms in a location, and in the relationships between those organisms and the surrounding environment. Biogeochemical cycles: web of life comprises a great variety of organisms coexisting in a diversity of ecosystems, organisms survive sustained by flows of energy, water, and nutrients. These flows are different in different parts of the world, in different seasons of year, and under various local circumstances: these grand cycles are collectively called biogeochemical cycles. If the biosphere is to function properly, its chemical substances must be recycled continually through these biogeochemical cycles. In other words, after one organism uses a substance, that substance must be converted, at the expense of some energy, to a reusable form.
