Cycles and patterns in the biosphere - Research Paper Example

The biosphere provides a room where a cycle of biological process like decomposition, nitrogen fixing, photosynthesis of plants and respiration takes place. The ingredients also cycle in a way that they the biosphere allows the living things to take and also return them to the other spheres in a pragmatic way ( Smil &Vaclav 23-58). There are several factors that determine the biosphere which include; water, shelter, light and nutrients. Climatic conditions that vary from different places on the earth also influence the biosphere in a big way.

These factors influence the cycles that take place upon the earth like the oxygen cycle, nitrogen cycle, geochemical cycles, biochemical cycle and the photosynthesis process. These processes ensure there is life on earth, for instance, when plants release the oxygen and the animals breathe in oxygen and release back the carbon dioxide that is used for photosynthesis. As a result of the biosphere cycles and process, the earth has not been altered and therefore provide a friendly environment for all living things ( Jorgensen, Sven and Brian 3-20).

Oxygen Cycle Its the biochemical process that shows the movement of oxygen from the atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere which is done through the process of photosynthesis ( Alcamo & I E 234-260). As the hydrologic cycle enables movement of water from the sky down to the earth, oxygen also is cycled in a certain pattern in the environment. In the process of photosynthesis, plants use the sunlight energy to convert carbon dioxide, then water into carbohydrates and oxygen. Plants play integral key role in the oxygen cycle because they breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen; photosynthesis includes plants that grow in the land areas as well as the water and oceans.

There is also a small percentage of oxygen that is produced from photolysis when energy through radiation breaks down the water in the atmosphere and nitrogen oxide into atomic elements, including more components hence leaving some oxygen in the air. Animals breathe in the oxygen produced from the plants in the process of photosynthesis and breath out carbon dioxide through the process of respiration. The carbon dioxide breathed out by animals is therefore released into the atmosphere hence forming the continuous cycle of oxygen.

In the process, plants during the day, they use the oxygen to break down the carbohydrates; same as the animals break down the carbohydrates during respiration. For the rate of metabolism to be maintained, plants do absorb oxygen from the air and give carbon dioxide to the air like the animals do. Plants produce a lot of oxygen during the day as compared to the night because of availability of sunlight, although in times whereby plants consume a lot of oxygen during the night, can lead to low oxygen levels in marine areas.

Carbon dioxide is also released into the atmosphere when organism decay and bacteria consume oxygen through decay mechanism and process. The cycling process of oxygen also takes a place between the biosphere and lithosphere when the marine biosphere creates calcium carbonate element that contains oxygen. As ( Harman& Rebecca 50-100) points out, the biosphere extracts nutrients from the rock elements which enables a release of oxygen into the atmosphere and that the ozone layer has been created in the stratosphere due to the oxygen that is