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.