BIOLOGY 1M03 Lecture Notes - Carbon Cycle, Water Cycle, Photosynthesis
13 Apr 2013
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Document Summary
When nutrients leave on ecosystem and enter another. The movement of ions and molecules among ecosystems links local biogeochemical cycles into one massive global system. Water evaporates out of the ocean and precipitates back into it; evaporation exceeds precipitation. When this water vapor moves over the continents, it is augmented by water transpired by plants. The cycle is completed both by water that moves from the land to the oceans via streams and by groundwater; water that is found in soild. Humans are affecting the water cycle in many ways. One of the most direct ways is in groundwater storage. The water table, the upper limit of saturated soil, is dropping on every continent. The global carbon cycle involves the movement of carbon among terrestrial ecosystems, the oceans, and the atmosphere. The oceans is by far the largest of these three reservoirs. Carbon moves into and out of the atmospheric reservoir rapidly via the photosynthesis and respiration of organisms.
