| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Macronutrient | Elements that living things require in large amounts. The Big Six are included: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. |
| Micronutrient | Elements that are required in a small amount by some form of life, but are not essential. Examples are boron, copper, and sodium. |
| Residence Times | The average length of time and element spends in a certain recevoir before it transfers to the next recevoir. |
| Flux/Rate of Transfer | The amount of a certain element that either enters or leaves a recevoir within a period of time. |
| Limiting Factor | The substance that determines how much can be produced, or how much an organism will grow. |
| Evaporation | The process of a substance changing from a liquid to a gas. |
| Condensation | The process of a substance changing from a gas to a liquid. |
| Precipitation | When water falls to the Earth in some form such as snow, rain, or hail. |
| Respiration | The process of breathing that both animals and plants are capable of. |
| Run-off | The process of water running down the Earth towards a body of water.. |
| Percolation | Water going down through the soil from things like plants or decomposing animals. |
| Consumption | Taking in water or another subtance into your body in some way. |
| Transpiration | It is like plant respiration, the way they release water into the atmosphere. |
| CO2 | Carbon Dioxide, it is present in the atmosphere and contributes to global warming as a result of burning fossil fuels. |
| C6H1206 | Glucose or sugar, which is produced during photosynthesis. |
| CH4 | Methane or natural gas, which is released during digestion or flatulence. |
| CO3^-2 | Carbonate |
| HCO3^-1 | Bicarbonate Ion |
| Photosynthesis | This only occurs in plants, and it is the process of taking in light to use as energy and food. |
| Cellular Respiration | A complex series of chemical reactions that occur in organisms to make energy available for their use. |
| Assimilation/Biosynthesis | When something is ingested, it goes through this process to make carbohydrates or DNA. |
| Lithification | Fine minerals that contain particles of a certain element or compound become compacted by heat and pressure to create rocks like limestone. |
| Decomposition | The process of bacteria helping with the breaking down of something that has died. |
| Coalification | The process of something becoming fossil fuels once it dies and gets compacted by heat an pressure. |
| Combustion | Burning of fossil fuels that release CO2 into the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. |
| Uplifting/Weathering/Erosion | When rocks and the minerals they contain rise above the soil and rain that falls on them carry the certain elements that are now exposed to bodies of water. |
| Diffusion | When CO2 from the air is dissolved into water. |
| PO4^-3 | Phosphate, the stage in which phosphorus is in for most of the Phosphorus Cycle. |
| Eutrophication | When too much fertilizer is in the ocean, it leads to a population explosion of algae that causes light to not be able to penetrate the water. This leads to the deaths of organisims, and as they decompose, the amount of oxygen dissolved in water lowers. |
| Fertilizer | A substance that helps plants grow more efficiently, but too much of it may cause eutrophication. |
| Guano | Waste from birds, especially those that eat fish. |
| N2 | Nitrogen Gas |
| NO3^-1 | Nitrate Ion |
| NO2^-1 | Nitrite Ion |
| NO2 | Nitrogen Dioxide Gas |
| NH3 | Ammonia |
| NH4^+1 | Ammonium Ion |
| N2O | Nitrous Oxide |
| Nitrogen Fixation | When atmospheric N2 is converted into NO3^-1 by lightning or NH3 by bacteria or algae. |
| De-nitrification | Bacteria in the soil or water "strip" the oxygen atom from NO3^-1 and change it back to atmospheric nitrogen. |
| Leaching | Causing an element or compound to percolate through something like soil. |
| Ammonification | The term used for decomposition in the Nitrogen Cycle. It releases NO3^-1 or NO3^-2 into the soil, but not the atmosphere since it has not yet been converted to a gas. |
| Nitrification | The process of bacteria converting the toxic NH3 into NO2^-1 or NO3^-1 |
| Ingeneous Rock | Rock formed by volcanic eruptions and lava/magma flows. The two types are intrusive (inside Earth) and extrusive (outside the Earth's crust) |
| Sedimentary Rock | Rock formed from lithification, weathering and erosion that usually have a layered appearance and can contain fossils. |
| Metamorphic Rock | Rock formed under extreme heat and pressure in the Earth's crust and often times show rough crystals. |
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