Ecosystem element cycling
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چکیده
An ecosystem consists of all the biological organisms and the physical environments they occupy together within a defined area [1]. The actual boundaries of an ecosystem are generally defined by researchers studying the ecosystem, who are usually interested in understanding the processes that control some aspects of ecosystem dynamics. Thus, the spatial domain of an ecosystem might range in size from a small pool of water in a tundra landscape to the tundra ecosystem of the Kuparuk River Basin in northern Alaska [2]. Ecosystem dynamics refers to changes in the biological and physical characteristics of ecosystems through time. The biological organisms in an ecosystem are responsible for a number of processes that affect ecosystem dynamics. For example, plants obtain carbon as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis, herbivores obtain carbon by consuming plants in an ecosystem, carnivores obtain carbon by eating animals in an ecosystem, and decomposers obtain carbon from dead organisms in an ecosystem. Physical processes also affect ecosystem dynamics. For example, the leaching of dissolved organic carbon in water flowing through the soil of an ecosystem is one path through which terrestrial ecosystems may lose carbon to aquatic ecosystems like rivers and lakes. For our purposes here, ecosystem element cycling refers to the cycling of elements such as carbon within an ecosystem as well as the flow of elements into and out of an ecosystem. This article has several purposes:
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