Question

Explain with the help of a flow chart recycling of phosphorus in nature. Describe the role of living organisms in the cycle. How is the phosphorus cycle different from the carbon cycle in nature?

Answer 1

Hint: The phosphorus cycle and carbon cycle comes under nutrient cycling where there is the circulation of nutrient takes place between the abiotic and biotic component and no dissipation of nutrients takes place at any level and it passes through the same ecosystem repeatedly.

Complete answer:
Phosphorus plays an important role in living organisms as it forms important biochemicals for the formation of DNA, RNA, ATP, bones, etc. For the phosphorus cycle, the reservoir pool consists of rock phosphorus which becomes available for weathering and mining of the mineral and phosphorus used as fertilizer and in industries used in phosphorus cycle.
In the phosphorus cycle, the soil locked up minerals come from the rock minerals weathering and the soil also takes up phosphate from the dead material which gets produced by consumer-like animals and producer-like plants. All the organic phosphate in the phosphorus cycle gets converted into inorganic phosphate with the help of phosphating bacteria.
Living organisms like decomposer help in the decomposition of dead animal and plant matter into detritus which get absorbed in the soil and the phosphate present in them helps in the phosphorus cycle.
In the carbon cycle, the cycling pool is air and water whereas in the phosphorus cycle the cycling pool is soil and water, especially for aquatic life. The carbon cycle consists of all in gaseous form while the phosphorus cycle is a type of sedimentary cycle. In the carbon, cycle rainfall helps to bring out a lot of oxygen for cycling whereas in the phosphorus cycle there is no such dissolution from the atmosphere.

Note:
The aquatic ecosystem consists of a high amount of phosphate as compared to terrestrial due to detergent and industrial effluents. Some parts of it get used up while they remain settled down. Sea receives around 25 million minerals annually due to high deposition.