biogechemische

Biogeochemical processes describe the integrated chemical, biological, and geological interactions that govern the distribution and transformation of elements on Earth. In practice, biogeochemistry examines how essential elements—notably carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and oxygen—move among organisms, soils and sediments, surface waters, and the atmosphere. The field blends chemistry, biology, geology, and ecology to explain how biological activity and physical processes control the cycling of elements and the storage in reservoirs such as soils, oceans, and rocks.

Core processes include photosynthesis and respiration that exchange carbon between living systems and the atmosphere, microbial transformations such as nitrification, denitrification, mineralization, and methanogenesis, and geochemical reactions like rock weathering and mineralization that release nutrients. Decomposition, uptake by plants and microbes, sedimentation, and burial shape long-term storage and fluxes. Human activities—fossil fuel combustion, agriculture, deforestation, and pollution—alter these cycles, with consequences for climate, soil fertility, water quality, and ecosystem health.

Methodologically, biogeochemistry relies on mass balance approaches, stable and radiogenic isotope tracing, field observations, laboratory experiments, and numerical models to quantify fluxes and reservoirs. The field has historical roots in geochemistry and ecology, with prominent contributions from researchers who highlighted the biosphere’s central role in Earth chemistry, and it now informs climate science, resource management, and environmental policy.

See also: biogeochemical cycle, Gaia hypothesis, isotopes, ecosystem ecology.