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Choose the most appropriate option to describe the role of biogeochemical cycles in an ecosystem. (i) To provide food directly to all organisms. (ii) To recycle essential nutrients between biotic and abiotic components. (iii) To create new elements for use by living things. (iv) To remove pollutants and toxins from the organism.
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Answer: (ii) To recycle essential nutrients between biotic and abiotic components
- Biogeochemical cycles move nutrients like carbon, nitrogen and oxygen between living organisms and the non-living environment, keeping them available.
- They do not directly feed all organisms, create new elements, or simply remove toxins.
Option
Is this the role of a biogeochemical cycle?
(i) To provide food directly to all organisms
✗ No — food is made by producers through photosynthesis; that is not what a cycle does.
(ii) To recycle essential nutrients between biotic and abiotic components
✓ Yes — this is the definition: the cyclic movement of matter between the living and non-living parts of the Earth.
(iii) To create new elements for use by living things
✗ No — elements are never created. The same carbon and nitrogen atoms move round and round.
(iv) To remove pollutants and toxins from the organism
✗ No — that is excretion, a body process, not an Earth-system cycle.
