What is the largest reservoir that contains about 78% of all N2?
Atmosphere
Nitrogen gas is colorless, odorless, and ____________, causing most organisms to use only compounds made from nitrogen.
Unreactive
The process where N2 molecules in the air break apart and combine with other atoms to form ammonia.
Nitrogen Fixation
This type of nitrogen fixation occurs when energy from lightning breaks N2 molecules apart and they combine with oxygen forming N2O.
Atmospheric Fixation
Industrial fixation is the process of combining N2 with H2 to form______.
Ammonia
Animals at the top of the food chain eating plants for their proteins is the process______.
assimilation
Returning nitrogen to the atmosphere by bacteria living deep in swampy sediments is the process ______.
Denitrification
Ammonification is part of the ______ process.
decay
This form of nitrogen fixation is where most nitrogen “fixing” takes place.
Biological Fixation
Nitrogen fixing by bacteria living in root nodules of plants is called a _______ relationship.
Symbiotic
This process in the nitrogen cycle involves bacteria in the ground combining ammonia with oxygen to form nitrates.
Nitrification
_____ occurs when green plants absorb nitrates, and consumers eat the green plants.
Assimilation
Explain human impact on the nitrogen cycle in a cause/effect statement.
Cause - Use of synthetic (man made) nitrogen fertilizers Effect - Fixes more nitrogen than all natural sources combined
List three negative consequences of excess N2 in the nitrogen cycle.
1.Acid Rain 2. Invasion by non-native plants 3. Fish-kill events 4. Algal blooms 5. Changes in species
