BIS 2B Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: Green Algae, Nitrogen Cycle, Eutrophication

• School: UC-Davis
• Department: Biological Sciences
• Course: BIS 2B
• Professor: Mark Schwartz; Sharon Strauss

Document Summary

Eutrophication can cause green algal growth; too much p can cause impaired surface water quality, ocean dead zones, limits to freshwater productivity can also cause hypoxia (lack of oxygen) source: Highlights: no gas phase, p becomes biologically available slowly by rock weathering, most available p is efficiently recycled within biological systems, available in mineral form. What to know: sources consequences of too little/much n. How inorganic n becomes organic, and vice versa recycling of nutrients within systems is high = decomposers. Bio available n enters cycle at low rate. Anthropogenic n fixation is strongly altering the system. Easily leached out because soil n does not bind tightly to soil. Key points in organic n like c and p, animals get n from other organisms limited # of organic forms available to plants. Even fewer forms for animals = from plant proteins few paths to convert inorganic to organic n.