Natural Recycling: The __Carbon__Cycle

A plant or ___________ can make its own ________ from materials in its environment. Producers are able to make carbohydrates such as simple___________ by a process called _________________. The chemical equation for this process is (Under the words of this equation write the symbols for each part) Carbon dioxide + water + sunlight p carbohydrate + oxygen

The plants get the carbon dioxide, ________, from the __________. The water, _______, is taken from the soil through the plant's _____________. The energy need to carry on the process of photosynthesis is _____________. Plants contain a green material called _______________. It is this green material that allows the producers to capture the _________ from the sun. Green plants and a few other microorganisms are the only organisms that can make their own ________ . All other organisms must eat __________ plants or other______________ that eat plants. Photosynthesis is one stage of the carbon cycle. After the plant has made the sugar, it takes the sugar and breaks it apart to form other important molecules like ______ and _______ . These two molecules also contain carbon; they are then used to make new plant material or ________. As the plant makes these molecules it grows. This is how a small ________ can grow into a large tree. ______________ cannot take carbon dioxide from the air to make their sugars, proteins and fats that they need for growth. To get the carbon they need, animals must eat ______ or other animals. When consumers eat plants or other animals they take their ________ and through the process of ________________ break apart their food into very simple molecules. These molecules are then put back together to form the animal's fats and _________. Once the fats and proteins are made the animal can add these to their tissues and _________. All living things need carbon to make their own tissues and grow. There is only a limited amount of carbon in the earth's atmosphere. If the carbon in an organism's was not recycled, we would run out of carbon in about _______ years. The second stage to the carbon cycle is _________________ ________________. In cellular respiration, _____________ from the air is burned with _________________ in each cell of an organism to produce energy and carbon dioxide. Once the carbon dioxide is made it is released into the __________ where it can again be used by __________ in the process of photosynthesis. This is the chemical equation for cellular respiration. (Under the formulas write the words for each part.) 6 O2 + C6 H12 O6 p 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + chemical energy

Although a plant can make its own food in photosynthesis, it must also carry out the process of ________________ _________________ . This process lets the plant use the sugar to release energy to make its own fats and proteins. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration recycles some of the carbon to plants and animals. What happens to the carbon that is in organisms that are not eaten? These plants and animals eventually die. Their bodies fall to the ground. The bodies of these dead plants and animals are eaten by _______________. These microscopic ___________, release special chemicals that break apart the bodies of the dead plants and animals. The detritivores absorb some of this material as their food which they also use in the process of _________________ ________________ to get energy to carry out their own life ___________________. The two processes of ___________________and ________________ _______________ is nature's way of __________________

Word list
air x 2 fats producer

animals/consumers carbohydrates/sugars carbon cellular respiration chlorophyll CO2 detritivores Digestion Energy x

x 2 x 2

food green grow

x 2

proteins roots recycling seed sugar sunlight x 3 ten

x 2

H2O organism oxygen photosynthesis

plants/producers x 2 processes

tissues/ bodies x 2

Word list
air x 2 fats producer

animals/consumers carbohydrates/sugars carbon cellular respiration chlorophyll CO2 Detritivores Digestion Energy x

x 2 x 2

food green grow

x 2

proteins roots recycling seed sugar sunlight x 3

x 2

H2O organism oxygen photosynthesis

tissues/ bodies x 2

plants/producers x 2 processes

Chapter 2: Cycles of Life Biosphere 1 = EARTH! Biosphere 2 = a huge laboratory in Arizona where nothing can enter or leave.  Like Biosphere 2, the Earth is (almost) a closed system. This means that (almost) nothing new (like water, carbon, or nitrogen) enters the system. The Earth received all its nutrients when it was created. Nutrients: Chemical elements that organisms use to build and operate their bodies. In order for life to have continued for millions of years, these nutrients must have been continually recycled. This is the opposite of what happens with energy, which is always used up and cannot be recycled. The movements of nutrients through the environment are called nutrient cycles. The Carbon Cycle    Where did the atoms come from which make up a huge tree? Remember that a tree is an autotroph (producer) that can make its own food. The tree makes carbohydrates, or simple sugars, during photosynthesis.

  

Photosynthesis:

CO2  H 2O p C6 H 12O6  O2
So three things are needed to make carbohydrates: a) Carbon dioxide gas b) Water c) Energy from the Sun Where do the water and carbon dioxide come from?? (Your Picture of the Carbon Cycle should go on the next page)

There are 2 processes in the carbon cycle: 1. Photosynthesis 2. Cellular Respiration 1. Photosynthesis    Plants capture carbon from the atmosphere, in the form of ________________. This is then combined with water to make ___________________. Some of the carbon in the carbohydrates is used by the plants to make other carbon compounds, like ____________and ___________________. When consumers eat plants, the carbon compounds are made into ___________________. Photosynthesis takes ________________and makes __________________. Only ___________________ can perform photosynthesis.

2. Cellular Respiration  Organisms use carbohydrate molecules for ___________________. The actual carbon atoms are put back out into the atmosphere in the form of ___________________ again.    When organisms ________________, their bodies still contain a lot of carbon. Carbon is also found in the feces and urine that organisms eliminate. ___________________feed on this carbon (carbohydrates) and combine it with oxygen to perform cellular respiration. Cellular respiration takes ___________________ and makes ___________________. ___________________ (both_____________ and ______________) perform cellular respiration.

Cellular Respiration:

C6 H 12O6  O2 p CO2  H 2O  chemical energy

 Each year, producers transform more than ________% of all the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into carbohydrates. If this CO2 was not replaced via ___________________, all the carbon dioxide would disappear in ___________________!!!!! Messing with the Carbon Cycle Throughout history, the volume of CO2 produced by cellular respiration has approximately ______________________ the volume of CO2 absorbed by photosynthesis. During the Carboniferous Period, this equilibrium was ___________________, and carbon was taken out of certain parts of the carbon cycle. 300 million years ago, huge swampy regions began to fill with ___________________ plant matter. The plant matter was buried beneath thick layers of ___________________. Since there was no ___________________ beneath the layers, decomposers could not eat

the dead plants. In this way, a large amount of ___________________ was imprisoned in the soil. After millions of years, the plant matter has been ___________________ under the heavy layers of sediment, and been transformed into ________________ and ______________ (also called fossil fuels). Today we burn these fuels at enormous rates, which scientists think greatly accelerates the ___________________.