Transfer of nutrients from one place to another for utilization, e.g. air to soil or water. Nutrient cycles keep the ecosystem in equilibrium and help in storing nutrients for future uptake. Through nutrient cycling, living organisms interact with the abiotic components of their surroundings. As water moves through and across soils, it carries valuable nutrients. As a landscape captures water, so too, will it capture many of the nutrients dissolved in the water. This is the very important connection between the hydrologic cycle and nutrient cycles. Sometimes called nutrient cycles, material cycles describe the flow of matter from the nonliving to the living world and back again. As this happens, matter can be stored, transformed into different molecules, transferred from organism to organism, and returned to its initial configuration. Nutrient cycling is a cyclic process that encompasses the movement of nutrients from the physical environment to living organisms and back to the environment. Nutrients are present on the earth where they are recycled, transformed into different forms and reutilized. Nutrients help break down food to give organisms energy. They are used in every process of an organism's body. Some of the processes are growth repair and maintaining life. Plants and other autotrophs absorb nutrients from soil and water.

As water moves through and across soils, it carries valuable nutrients. As a landscape captures water, so too, will it capture many of the nutrients dissolved in the water. This is the very important connection between the hydrologic cycle and nutrient cycles. Nutrient cycles keep the ecosystem in equilibrium and help in storing nutrients for future uptake. Through nutrient cycling, living organisms interact with the abiotic components of their surroundings. Water dissolves nutrients in decaying plant material and animal products and transports the nutrients into the soil to be recycled or when water runs off the land, into streams or lakes. Water also physically transports soil into water bodies. Nutrient cycling in an estuarine ecosystem is the referral of organic and inorganic matter into an estuary and their transference into the production of living matter. These nutrients must maintain a balanced concentration in order to create a sustainable estuary. Chemical elements and water are constantly recycled in the ecosystem through biogeochemical cycles. During the water cycle, water enters the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration, and water returns to land by precipitation. Of the many processes involved in the water cycle, the most important are evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, and runoff. Although the total amount of water within the cycle remains essentially constant, its distribution among the various processes is continually changing.