ABSTRACT
Well-organized systems usually develop material cycles, so that much of what is needed in production is reused. This chapter examines the material cycles in a forest ecosystem. Ecosystems require water. The amount of water that flows through trees as transpiration is much larger than the small amount of water used in photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide from the air is drawn into plant photosynthesis through the microscopic leaf holes and converted into organic matter that is used throughout the rest of the ecosystem by the consumer parts of the plants and the animals and microorganisms. Photosynthetic production, for example, is drawing carbon, water, nitrogen, and phosphorus into organic matter, later to be released together during the consumption. The phosphorus cycle is particularly interesting in Florida. Topsoil is often low in phosphate, whereas the underlying rock is rich in phosphate. When the forests are cut and the wood is carried off, a considerable fraction of the phosphorus is removed from the cycle.
