Why is the phosphorus cycle slower than the carbon and nitrogen cycle?

Why is the phosphorus cycle slower than the carbon and nitrogen cycle?

As compared to nitrates & other macro elements, decomposers take longer time to decompose any dead biota into phosphates. Decomposers are organisms especially a soil bacterium, fungus, or invertebrate, that decompose organic material. These are the reasons for phosphorus cycle being the slowest biogeochemical cycle.

Why is the phosphorus cycle the slowest of the nutrient cycle?

Phosphorus does not occur in the atmosphere because its usually solid at most temperatures on Earth. The phosphorus cycle is one of the slowest biogeochemical cycles because the movement of phosphorus through oceans and soil is quite slow. Weathering and erosion releases the trapped phosphorus from rocks.

What is the main difference between the carbon and phosphorus cycle?

The main difference between carbon and phosphorus cycle is that carbon cycle interacts with the atmosphere whereas phosphorus cycle does not interact with the atmosphere. Therefore, the carbon cycle is a type of gaseous cycling whereas the phosphorus cycling is a type of sedimentary cycling.

What is different about the phosphorus cycle compared to the other cycles?

Phosphorous cycles through several components of the biosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. However, it generally does not circulate through the atmosphere, unlike other biogeochemical cycles, like for example carbon or nitrogen.

How society affects the phosphorus and nitrogen cycle?

Humans affect the phosphorus cycle mainly by the use of fertilizers and raising livestock, especially hogs. Fertilizers and hog waste are high in phosphorus, which makes its way into the soil (where it is necessary in moderate amounts) and, due to runoff, in water.

Is nitrogen more limiting than phosphorus?

We combine field and microcosm studies of both plant and microbial primary producers and show that phosphorus, not nitrogen, is the nutrient most limiting to the earliest stages of primary succession along glacial chronosequences in the Central Andes and central Alaska.