Day 10-Nitrogen Cycle

Day 10

        Today I learned about the Nitrogen cycle in the desert biome. It was much more interesting than I originally thought it would be! I learned that the cycle can begin through the uptake of nitrates by desert plants. The desert plants that contain Nitrate are consumed by insects and reptiles. The nitrates are then transferred when these primary consumers are consumed by secondary consumers. The nitrates are passed up along the food chain to carnivores that later pass away and allow the nitrates to return to the soil. Once in the soil, the bacteria and fungi mineralize the Nitrogen back into a state that the plants can use. This then restarts the process and the cycle begins again.
        This cycle is important because it allows desert plants to grow once they receive the nitrogen. If these plants did not receive Nitrogen they would not grow, which would cause the plants to die. If the plants in the desert died , the primary consumers would be affected because they would not have enough food and would have to find another food source or die of starvation. This would then affect the secondary consumers for the same reason which would also affect the top predators because they wouldn't have a food source either. Overall, the Nitrogen cycle is very important to the desert biome because it can affect the entire food web of the desert if it is disrupted and it provides stability and order to the ecosystem. The ecosystem would then be inhabitable and bare if this cycle were to be disrupted.

     As you can see, I've learned a lot about the Nitrogen cycle today. I also learned a lot throughout my entire trip to the hot and dry desert. I had a great experience and encourage all of my readers to come visit this biome. Through this trip I was educated about all aspects of the desert biome and was able to learn through experiencing. Thanks for joining me on this great experience through my blog!