Which process plays an important role in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus?

a.) photosynthesis
b.) transpiration
c.) decomposition
d.) respiration

The process that plays a crucial role in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous is decomposition. Moreover, it is indeed playing an important role in the ecosystem.

EXPLANATION:  

The first stage in the nutrients’ recycling that has been depleted by an organism (plant or animal) to construct its body, and is returned to the ecosystem after its death is called decomposition. This is the process by which dead tissues collapse and are converted into simpler organic systems which are a food source for many species at the bottom of the ecosystem. Species that decompose, and feed on the 'waste' products shaped by them, are called detritivores, which literally means 'feeders on the dead or decomposed organic matter'.

Decomposers are heterotrophic organisms that obtain nutrients by collapsing the remains of dead animals and plants. Examples of decomposers are fungi, snails, bacteria, etc. Many of these decomposing species function together or parallel to each other, with each accountable for a particular stage or aspect of the process of decomposition, and cooperatively they are known as detritivorous communities.

There are some importances of decomposition in an ecosystem:

•It facilitates recycling nutrients such as nitrogen and carbon in an ecosystem.

•Dead organic matter is collapsed into the water, carbon dioxide, minerals, and other substances that can be eaten by vegetations. Nutrients are restored to the soil from which plants also can reuse the same.

•Therefore, nutrients gained from wastes and dead organisms are recycled back to the land for being used by producers.

•Additionally, decomposers help remove or clean dead material and waste from the ecosystem.

•Other decomposers’ roles in an ecosystem include recycling, nitrogen fixation, and maintenance of ecosystem carbon and nitrogen by cleansing dead material by decomposing it and recycling nutrients into the soil.

LEARN MORE:  

If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, we recommend you to also take a look at the following questions:

•What is decomposition?

•Which of the following statements about decomposition reactions is true?

KEYWORDS: Decomposition, biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus

Subject  : History

Class  : 10-12

Sub-Chapter: Decomposition