Flow of nutrients through an ecosystem is cyclic.

Dear student , A nutrient cycle (or ecological recycling) is the movement and exchange of organic and inorganic matter back into the production of matter. Energy flow is an unidirectional and noncyclic pathway, whereas the movement of mineral nutrients is cyclic.Thus flow of nutrients through an ecosystem is cyclic. This cyclic flow sees nutrients move from one trophic level to another trophic level all the way up and then back down. Trophic level refers to hierarchical level in the food chain where organisms share same nutritional characteristics and roles.  The cyclic flow is as follows: Nutrients are manufactured by producers, green plants, at the lowest trophic level by the help of the sun's energy through the process of photosynthesis.photo means light i.e. from sunlight food is produced .                                                                              ⬇️ The nutrients made by the producers are passed on to the primary consumers , herbivores,  when they feed on the producers. For eg. Goat,sheep etc.                                      ⏬                                      ⬇️ The primary consumers are feed on by the secondary consumers - and this is how nutrients are passed on from the primary consumers to the secondary consumers.                                          ⬇️                                        The tertiary and the Quaternary consumers also obtain nutrients from feeding one or all of the lower trophic levels.                                            ⬇️                                           Nutrients are then transferred back to the soil from the higher trophic levels back to the soil through decomposition of this high level trophic organisms by decomposers  such as bacteria and fungi.  (The producers then acquire the nutrients from the soil and process of the transfer to the next trophic level begins all over again) Note; nutrients are transferred also when the process of reproduction occurs, but this is within the same trophic level.  Regards.

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