ravinteetkulkee

Ravinteet kulkee is a Finnish term commonly used in ecology and environmental science to describe the movement, transformation, and exchange of chemical elements that are essential for living organisms as they cycle through ecosystems. The concept covers how nutrients enter, move through, and leave soils, water, and biota, and how they are stored, transformed, or lost over time.

In terrestrial and aquatic systems, the flow of nutrients involves inputs from weathering of rocks, atmospheric deposition, biological nitrogen fixation, and human-derived sources such as fertilizers and waste. Nutrients are transferred through living organisms, detritus, and microbial communities, and are returned to the environment via mineralization, immobilization, decomposition, respiration, and excretion. Outputs occur through leaching, runoff, sedimentation, volatilization, and harvest.

Key macronutrients include nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S), while micronutrients such as iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), boron (B), and molybdenum (Mo) also play critical roles. The flow of nutrients is tightly linked to processes such as the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, soil formation, and primary productivity, and it interacts with the carbon cycle and water cycling.

Human activities influence ravinteet kulkee by altering inputs and losses, through agriculture, urbanization, pollution, and land-use change. These changes can affect soil fertility, crop yields, and water quality, making the management of nutrient flow a central concern in sustainability and ecosystem health.

See also: Nutrient cycle, Nitrogen cycle, Phosphorus cycle, Biogeochemical cycle, Eutrophication.