Aquatic ecology and Biodiversity

Unit 6- Biogeochemical cycles

6.1.4. Cycling of organic nutrients
Organic matter is that matter has derived from living organisms, capable of decay, or the product of decay and composed of organic compounds.
Organic matter is a collective term, assigned to the realm of all of the broken down organic matter. Basic structures are created from cellulose, tannin, phenol, lignin etc, along with other various proteins, lipids and sugars. It is very important in the movement of nutrients in the environment and plays an important role in water retention on the surface of the planet. These two processes help to ensure the continuance of life on the earth.

The nutrient cycle
The nutrient cycle describes the movemrnt of nutrients from the physical environment into living organisms and subsequently is recycled back to the physical environment. The most important biogeochemical cycles are the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the oxygen cycle, the phosphorus cycle, the sulfur cycle and the water cycle.


Carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles are known to limit the productivity of the aquatic systems and other elements are not considered as limiting the productivity in aquatic systems.