The Waer cycle
The water cycle is something that we have all been learning about since second grade. Every year, there is a new song or rhyme to help us remember precipitation, condensation, and evaporation, along with a few other steps that are not as prominent. In the tundra, there is very little precipitation, less than ten inches a year to be exact. This means there is a variation on the water cycle. First, the water in the form of snow rains down and collects on the ground. Then, it either freezes into the permafrost, or washes away to the ocean, or other body of water. Lastly, it slowly evaporates back into the clouds.
Nitrogen cycle
The nitrogen cycle is a series of natural processes by which certain nitrogen-containing substances from air and soil are made useful to living things, are used by them, and are returned the air and soil. This ever going cycle is the reason we are alive today. First in the cycle is nitrogen fixation. This is the process in which nitrogen gas from the air is continuously made into nitrogen compounds. These compounds (primarily nitrates and ammonium compounds) are made by nitrogen-fixing microorganisms in the soil and by lightning. Next is nitrification. This is the process in which ammonia in the soil is converted to nitrates. Nitrification is performed by nitrifying bacteria. Plants absorb the nitrates and use them to make proteins. Nitrification is followed by denitrification. This is the reverse of the combined processes of nitrogen fixation and nitrification. It is the process by which nitrogen compounds, through the action of certain bacteria, give out nitrogen gas that then becomes part of the atmosphere. The amount of gas released by this process is relatively small. Last are the decay processes, means by which the organic nitrogen compounds of dead organisms and waste material are returned to the soil. These compounds are chiefly proteins and urea. The many bacteria and fungi causing decay convert them to ammonia and ammonium compounds in the soil. Since there are not that many plants to be found in the tundra, the nitrogen cycle does not play a huge role in the welfare of the biome.
Carbon cycle
The carbon cycle is the movement of carbon, in its many forms, between the biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and geosphere. First, plants remove carbon dioxide from the air. Next, plants die and get buried in the earth. After millions of years, the plant remains turn into coal and oil. People mine the earth for these fossil fuels. When people burn fossil fuels, they send carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into the air. The cycle continues. Again, because of the lack of plant life in the tundra, the carbon cycle isn’t all that important. There are some fossil fuels like oil in the tundra but not a lot of humans venture out there to dig it up and use it.