Name:________________________________________
Date:______________
Ecology - Cycles of Matter
Procedure:
1. Go to http://poster.4teachers.org/worksheet/view.php?id=123451
2. Click on the water cycle 2
3. Click on auto in the middle of the diagram on the left.
4. Answer the following questions as the narrator reads to you.
Water Cycle
A. When does precipitation
occur?__________________________________________________
B. What are the four forms of precipitation that are
mentioned?___________________________
C. Where is underground water stored? _________________________________
D. What happens when the sun comes out (two
processes)?_______________________________
E. How does condensation form? ___________________________________________________
5. Go back to the main page and click on Carbon Cycle 1 to play the Carbon Game
6. Click on the spot in the box where it says click to begin your journey
Carbon Cycle
Welcome to the Atmosphere
A. What is the name of the greenhouse gas that contains carbon in atmoshphere?
B. What happens when the amount of carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere?
7. Click continue, then click the down arrow to head towards land plants:
Welcome to Land Plants
A. Name the process in which plants take in sunlight and the CO2 from the atmosphere.
8. Click continue, click the down arrow to head towards soil.
Welcome to Soil
A. What happens to the carbon that was taken into the plants after they have died?
10. Click continue, click down, and answer the trivia question. Circle one: true
or false
12. Click continue twice, then click the up arrow to go to surface ocean.
Welcome to Surface Ocean.
A. How can carbon get to the surface of the ocean?
13. Click continue and click the down arrow.
14. Answer the quiz question. Circle one: True or False
16. Click continue to head to the Deep Ocean.
Welcome to the Deep Ocean.
A. How much of the Earth’s carbon can be found in the deep ocean? _________ How long has that
carbon been in the deep ocean?
17. Click continue and answer the quiz question. Answer: __________________
18. Now you are done with the carbon cycle. Go back to the main menu.
21. Click on the Nitrogen Cycle and click go. Answer the following questions as you proceed through the
animations.
Nitrogen Cycle
A. Can plants and animals use pure nitrogen gas (N2)? ____________
B. It must be _____________ into a _____________ form.
C. What fixes N2 to allow nitrogen to combine with oxygen to form NO3 ?
D. NO3 now enters the soil and is absorbed into ___________ by their ___________the plant then uses
the _______________ to form other compounds.
E. N2 can enter the __________.
G. Bacteria in the ________ fix N2 allowing nitrogen to form other compounds. Plants can now _____________
and use the nitrogen.
H. ________________ eat the plants to get the nitrogen they can use.
I. How does the nitrogen return to the soil?__________________________________________
J. Other bacteria in the soil break apart the nitrogen compounds, allowing
________________
___________ to form and return to the __________.
22. Return to the main screen
Phosphorus Cycle
23. Click phosphorus cycle one, and click go to animation. Click narrated and complete letters A-F.
A. Fill in the blanks: In living things ___________________ is an essential component of cells. For
example, it makes up the __________ ________________ of cells.
B. The main stores of phosphorus in the biosphere are found in
Earth’s ___________. The process in which phosphorus is released
from rocks is called ____________________. The ________________ then
enters the soil where ____________ can take it up through their
_______________.
C. When ________________ eat the plants they take the phosphorus into
their own bodies. When plants and animals die the phosphorus
becomes available to _____________________, such as _____________ and
_______________. These __________________ return the phosphate back to
the soil where _____________ can take it up again.
D. What are 2 ways in which phosphorus can enter rivers and oceans? ___________________ and
____________________ Once in the ocean, phosphorus enters the marine _____________ ____________. How much
time may pass before the phosphorus returns to the ocean floor where it will form rock again?
_________________ years.
E. What is the biggest difference when you compare the phosphorus cycle to the carbon and nitrogen
cycles?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________
F. What are 2 ways in which humans have changed the natural phosphorus cycle? ____________________ and
_____________________. What effect does extra phosphorus have on the ecosystem?
___________________________________________________________.
You are now finished. Remember, living things need CHONP in order to survive. The cycling and availability of
these nutrients is critical to survival.