What does the recycling process involve and role of microorganisms in recycling of carbon and nitrogen through air and soil?
Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Recycling can benefit your community, the economy, and the environment. Products should only be recycled if they cannot be reduced or reused. Recycling is the process of collection and conversion of waste into useful and new products. Recycling is done to minimize the pollution and the waste generated. It helps in the converse the environment. Microorganisms and fungi break down wood and return carbon to the biogeochemical cycles. If these organisms become absent, carbon would accumulate in the wood, where it could not be recycled into the environment. The fixation of nitrogen is dependent on microorganisms mostly through biological nitrogen fixation. Microbes and fungi decompose dead animals, plants and matter. When they do so, they release carbon dioxide into the air due to respiration and contribute to the carbon cycle. In the soil and ocean there are certain microbes that have the ability to convert ammonia into nitrites. This contributes to the nitrogen cycle. Microbes are critical in the process of breaking down and transforming dead organic material into forms that can be reused by other organisms. This is why the microbial enzyme systems involved are viewed as key 'engines' that drives the Earth's biogeochemical cycles. Plants absorb carbon from the environment in photosynthesis and return it in respiration. Animals obtain their carbon by eating plants; they release carbon in respiration. Micrororganisms return carbon to the environment when they decompose dead plants and animals. Bacteria play a central role: Nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which convert atmospheric nitrogen to nitrates. Bacteria of decay, which convert decaying nitrogen waste to ammonia. Nitrifying bacteria, which convert ammonia to nitrates/nitrites. Microorganisms play a dominant role in the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients.
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