How do cycles of nutrients relate to the big idea “balance in nature”?
There is a certain amount of nutrients available on the planet. These nutrients are used to create food. Then those nutrients move up the food chain to the very top. Once any organism dies, it is decomposed by bacteria and fungi and the nutrients are returned to the soil to be used again as food. If one of those levels in the food chain is disrupted, the nutrient cycle is disrupted. If we mess up the balance of decomposers and they become scarce, organisms will not decompose and the nutrients will remain locked up and unusable. . This balance is very fragile so we must take care to have very little effect on it.
