What happens to the phosphorus when plants and animals die?

When animals and plants die, phosphorus will either return to the soils or oceans during decay. It cycles much faster through plants and animals then it does in rock and sediment formations.

The Impact of Humans on The Cycle

The use of fertilizers rich in phosphate causes the soil to have too much nutrients and to run off into bodies of water. Because phosphates are mainly used as a plant nutrient, having too much in a body of water leads to a boom in algae growth. Too much algae in a body of water may ruin the ecosystem.

Phosphorus's importance of being a biological molecule.

Without me life cannot be supported. Without phosphorus, things like DNA and RNA will have no structure in their framework, ATP(adenosine triphosphate) and the coenzyme NADP cannot be made which is used for transporting energy in living organisms and photosynthesis, and phospholipids cannot be made, which is used for making the cell cell membrane.

How are phosphates incorporated into the organic molecules in aquatic plants and animals?

-inorganic phosphates are plant nutrients

-absorbed with water

                ->passed down in species through food chain

                ->in aquatic they form rocks through erosion

-decomposed species- return inorganic  phosphorus(converted to organic when eaten by animals or plants.

Organic reservoirs for phosphorus:

Reservoirs require soil/ underground/ocean (natural marshes/ largest soils irregularly flood) in order to form

- they are most commonly known reservoirs:

    -> One example of these reservoirs are the guano hills near the coast of Peru.

The Pathway of Movement of the Phosphorus Cycle and Phosphorus that is Carried by Runoff into the Ocean

Pathway of Movement

• Phosphorus is typically found in the rocks in soil, and so the cycle can be said to begin with the erosion of rock.
• Water trickles down the rocks and dissolves the phosphorus, which runs into bodies of water.  There, the phosphorus combines with oxygen to create phosphates.
• The phosphates are then absorbed by plants along the water, which use them to synthesize organic molecules.  
• The phosphate is then concentrated in plant tissues.
• A consumer eats the phosphorus-containing plant.
• Once the consumer dies, its body returns the phosphates to the lake as it decomposes.  Plant waste does the same.
• Large amounts of phosphorus are then carried by rivers and streams as runoff into the ocean.
• It is then trapped in the ocean floor as marine sediment.
• Over time, geologic uplifting occurs, and the cycle restarts.

So...

• When water runs over phosphorus-containing rocks, the rocks usually erode, causing phosphate ions to slip into streams and then into oceans.  

• These phosphates can be trapped for millions of years in the ocean floor as sediment.

The Phosphorus Cycle:

1.       Why is the phosphorus an important biological molecule?

·         It is a component of adenosine triphosphate and the coenzyme NADP, which are important to the cellular process such as photosynthesis.

2.      What happens to phosphorus that erodes from rock and soil?

·         It dissolves and washes it into rivers and streams.

3.      How are phosphates incorporated into organic molecules in plants and animals?

·         It flows out of the water into plants that are consumed by animals.

4.      What happens to the phosphates when plants and animals die?

·         Phosphates are returned to the water when an animal or plant dies.

5.      What happens to the phosphorus that is carried by runoff to the oceans?

·         It ends up as phosphates.

6.      How are phosphates incorporated into the organic molecules in aquatic plants and animals?

·         It is in the scales of fish and the plants that the animals eat take it in.

7.      What is different about the phosphorus cycle as compared to the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles?

·         This cycle does not go through the atmosphere.