Nutrient Cycle

What is Nutrient Cycle?

The repeated movement of a chemical element between the non-living environment and living organisms. Producers take the element up in an inorganic form, feeding transfers it along the food chain, and respiration, excretion, death and decomposition return it to the environment where producers can take it up again. Because the same atoms are used repeatedly, an ecosystem does not need a continuous supply of new matter in the way it needs a continuous supply of energy.

This definition is part of the Relationships of Organisms with One Another and with the Environment chapter in Cambridge O Level Biology.

Concepts related to Nutrient Cycle

• Carbon Cycle
• Nitrogen Cycle
• Decomposer