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Phosphorus
plays a very important role in plants and animals alike. Phosphorus
contributes to the structure of DNA and the process in which energy is
transformed, thus is it very important to have a healthy amount present
in an environment. Having too little phosphorus in an environment can
harm the growth and health of plants. On the other hand it is possible
to have too much phosphorus present, excess phosphorus can be washed
into neighboring environments and cause algae blooms. Algae blooms are
harmful because they block sunlight and oxygen from reaching plants and
animals below the surface of the water. |
It is not
only important to know about the role of phosphorus, but it is also
vital to understand the process in which phosphorus is cycled through
the earth. The phosphorus cycle is in charge of converting the chemical
into its organic and non-organic state. Plants can only absorb
phosphorus in its non-organic state. Phosphorus is initially released
into the earth via gradual weathering of rocks over time, this state of
phosphorus is considered non-organic. The non-organic form of the
chemical is absorbed into plants, plants will then use the phosphorus to
form their DNA structure and convert energy. Once the plant dies, or the
plant is eaten by an animal which dies, the organic material of the
organism is decayed by microorganisms and the phosphorus is reverted
back to its non-organic state. Now the phosphorus in its non-organic
form and ready for the plants to reabsorb it.
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Over the past 15 years women in the E.S.S.R.E program have been
surveying the soil of the Roland Park Country School backwoods. Through
these years it has been noticed that site 4 has had a steady increase of
phosphorus. Our team was very interested in this mysterious pattern and
conducted a field experiment in attempt to determine the cause of this
increase. We hypothesized, that due to a steady decrease in rainfall
over the past 15 years, the phosphorus and organic material was not
being washed down and passed by a broken dam thus there is a large
accumulation of phosphorus and decaying material close to the dam. |