EM 973 Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente

Arnaldo Walter UNICAMP awalter@fem.unicamp.br

Ciclos na natureza e o meio ambiente

Objetivos e contexto

Ciclos da natureza so fundamentais para a manuteno da vida na Terra. O ciclo da gua um exemplo claro, e no preciso consideraes adicionais. Ciclos de nutrientes (como Nitrognio e Fsforo) so essenciais para as plantas e os animais. Alteraes nos ciclos da natureza no esto associadas ao deplecionamento dos reservatrios, mas sim alterao de fluxos entres os reservatrios (e consequente variao das condies fsico, qumicas e biolgicas), e poluio (alterao das propriedades) dos sistemas da natureza (atmosfera, hidrosfera, biosfera e litosfera).

Princpios de Sustentabilidade (1)

Miller and Spoolman. Living in the Environment : concepts, connections and solutions.

Princpios de Sustentabilidade (2)

Miller and Spoolman. Living in the Environment : concepts, connections and solutions.

Natural cycles (1)

http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/text.php?unit=8&secNum=2

Natural cycles are the processes by which all essential materials flow through the living and the non-living parts of ecosystems. Ecosystems receive materials as inputs and release them as outputs. The cyclic path of material flow reuses the basic elements over and over. Natural cycles supply ecosystems with nutrients, energy and water. Examples are the water, the carbon and the nitrogen cycles. The smooth and steady functioning of cycles directly impacts ecosystem stability. Conversely, disturbed cycles contribute directly to ecosystem vulnerability.

Natural cycles (2)

CSU -http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/courses/GEOL1070/chap04/chapter4.html

Biogeochemical cycles are part of the larger cycles that describe the functioning of the whole Earth. Biogeochemical cycles correspond to the movement (or cycling) of matter through a system. The most important biogeochemical cycles affecting ecosystem health are the water, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles.

Biogeochemical cycles are cycles of materials or molecules through the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere.

Biogeochemical cycles (CSU)

Biologia + Geoqumica = Biogeoqumica Cincia que estuda o ciclo do carbono (por exemplo) e suas interconexes com ciclos de outros elementos envolvidos no processo da vida (principalmente nitrognio, oxignio, fsforo e enxofre).

Nutrient cycles

CSU Colorado State University. http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/courses/ GEOL1070/chap04/chapter4.html

Movements through the atmosphere are generally rapid, while movements through the soils are generally slow. Increased transport by stream flow severely disrupts the cycles of elements without a gaseous phase. Movements from terrestrial biosphere to the ocean (via stream flow, usually) must be replaced by movements either through the atmosphere (such as with nitrogen and carbon) or by weathering (such as with phosphorous or calcium).

Water cycle (1)

CSU -http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/courses/GEOL1070/chap04/chapter4.html

The most familiar of all cycles is the water cycle. The movement of water is critical in all cycles. The water cycle helps to demonstrate connections between local and global ecosystems.

Water cycle (2)

Water cycle (3) flows in km3/year

http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/text.php?unit=8&secNum=2

Water vapor redistributes energy from the sun around the globe through atmospheric circulation. Solar radiation drives evaporation. This process consumes nearly one-third of the incoming solar energy that reaches Earth's surface.

Water cycle (4)

CSU

P: precipitation Total 496,000 km3/yr (land 111,000 + ocean 385,000) E: evaporation Total 496,000 km3/yr (land 71,000 + ocean 425,000) T: transpiration included in plant evaporation R: surface runoff 26,000 km3/yr SR: sub surface runoff (liquid 12,000 + ice 2,000) I: infiltration 14,000 km3/yr S: springs 2,000 km3/yr 1 km3/yr = one trillion liters/year

Water cycle (5)

http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/text.php?unit=8&secNum=2
Estimate of the world water balance. Source: MIT OpenCourseWare.
Surface area (million km2) Volume (million km3) Volume (%) Equivalent depth (m) Residence time

Oceans and seas Lakes and reservoirs Swamps River channels Soil moisture Groundwater Icecaps and glaciers Atmospheric water Biospheric water

361 1.55 <0.1 <0.1 130 130 17.8 504 <0.1

1,370 0.13 <0.01 <0.01 0.07 60 30 0.01 <0.01

94 <0.01 <0.01 <0.01 <0.01 4 2 <0.01 <0.01

2,500 0.25 0.007 0.003 0.13 120 60 0.025 0.001

~4,000 years ~10 years 1-10 years ~2 weeks 2 weeks to 50 years 2 weeks to 100,000 years 10 to 1,000 years ~10 days ~1 week

Carbon cycle (1)

Carbon cycle (1)

7,2 GtC (26,4 GtCO2) em 2005, devido combustvel + cimento

Carbon cycle (2)

CSU Colorado State University. http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/courses/GE OL1070/chap04/chapter4.html

One of the most important to humans: one of the primary elements forming human tissues; and because it is important to the climate system; carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) are GHG.

Carbon cycle (3)

CSU

Fluxes to & from land: (GtC/year) P: photosynthesis -120 PR: plant respiration - 60 SR: soil respiration - 60 SF: plants to soils - 60 FFF: fossil fuel formation - 0.0001 FFB: fossil fuel burning - 6 DEF: deforestation - 2 Fluxes to & from ocean: (GtC/year) D: dissolving - 107 E: exolving - 103 CP: carbonate formation - 4 W: weathering - 0.6 Fluxes from volcanoes: (GtC/year) V: 0.1

Carbon cycle (4)

IPCC (2003)

Carbon cycles (5): carbon residence time

CSU

Some in fluxes are not balanced by out fluxes (e.g., the atmosphere and fossil fuels). So residence time are slightly different (and reservoirs are growing... or shrinking). The RT of carbon in the air (mostly CO, but some CH4) is long enough that the air is well mixed (mixes in about 1 year). The RT of soils: some parts cycle very slowly (1,000's of years), some parts very rapidly (a few weeks to months e.g., leaves) The RT of fossil fuels reflects all fuels suspected to exist: coal: ~ 350 years; oil: ~ 40 years; natural gas: ~ 60 years. The RT of ocean: the surface water (short RT, few months to years) and deep water (long RT, 200 to 400 years). Ocean RT reflects the circulation of the ocean (deep water formation).

Carbon cycles (6): silicates

CSU

Long term cycle of the carbon cycle, tied with the rock (silicate) cycle. The time scale for this cycle is millions to hundreds of millions of years. On this time scale, carbon cycling by plants, oceans and the atmosphere is thought to be in balance (steady state or equilibrium) ... so carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are thought to be controlled by weathering rates and rates of volcanic eruptions. Weathering rates are thought to be controlled by rate of tectonic uplift: more uplift, more weathering and less atmospheric carbon dioxide. This may explain the slow decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide from levels of several thousand ppm about 100 million years ago, to 280 ppm in the pre-industrial time: during this time, the Tibetan Plateau and Rocky Mountain Plateau were raised by tectonic activity.

Nitrogen cycle (1)

CSU

N is a necessary nutrient, and is part of acid rain. Limiting Nutrient Amount of an element necessary for plant life is in short supply Nitrogen Fixation chemical conversion of N2 to more reactive forms, e.g. NH3 (ammonia) or NO3 (nitrate) Denitrification - chemical conversion from nitrate (NO3-) back to N2

Nitrogen cycle (2)

Nitrogen cycle (3): chemical cycles and reservoirs (CSU)

F = fixation; D = denitrification ; O = oxidation . Atmosphere: 4,000,000 Gt Land Plants: 3.5 Soils: 9.5 Gt Oceans: 23,000 Gt Sediments and rocks: 200,000,000 Gt

Nitrogen cycle (4): fluxes (CSU)

Fluxes: (in Mtyear ) LF: Land Fixation 140 LD: Land denitrification 130 OF: Oceanic Fixation 50 OD: Oceanic denitrification 110 I: Industrial dixation 100 FFB: Fossil fuel burning 20 BB: biomass burning 10 L: Lightning 20 D: Decay 1200 G: Growth 1200 L-O: Land-to-Ocean 48 (rivers 36; dust 6; NOx 6) O-L: Ocean-to-Land 15 (sea spray) Burial: 10

Nitrogen cycles (5)

CSU

Industrial fixation is used to make fertilizers to provide usable nitrogen for crops. This flux is comparable to natural fixation. Specialized bacteria and lightning are the only natural ways that nitrogen is fixed. How did agriculture survive before fertilizers? Early civilizations had to rely on natural regeneration of fixed nitrogen: Annual floods bring fresh sediments (e.g., Nile Valley); Slash/burn agriculture: once the soil nutrients are depleted, move on to a new place; Crop rotation: certain crops (e.g. soybeans) are good at fixing nitrogen, others (e.g. corn) use it up; plant on alternate years.

Nitrogen cycles (6): residence times

CSU

Nitrogen in the atmosphere: 14 million years; land plants: ~ 3 years; oceans: ~ 20,000 years; soils: ~ 9 years As pollutants: NOx ~ 4 days and as N2O ~ 120 years. In reservoirs where N2 is the dominant form (of nitrogen) (e.g., atmosphere, ocean), the residence times is long. In reservoirs where fixed nitrogen is dominant (e.g., soils, plants), the residence times is short. N2 is very stable, but fixed nitrogen compounds are very reactive (that's why plants can utilize them). Eutrophication corresponds to increasing the nutrients in a body of water. Runoff carrying excess nitrate fertilizers enriches these bodies of water; algae respond to this first and excess algae implies depletion of O2 in the water.

Phosphorus cycle (1)

Importance: phosphorus is a necessary, limiting nutient and Phosphate runoff causes eutrophication.

Phosphorus cycle (2)

Phophorus cycle (3): reservoirs

CSU

Earth's Crust: 20,000,000,000 Mt ( recoverable : ~20,000) (most of the phosphorus is in rocks). Ocean: 100,000 Mt; Freshwater: ~100 Mt; Land Plants: ~3,000 Mt; Soils: ~100,000 Mt. Main fluxes (Mt/year) M: Mining - 50 (humans) F: Fertilization - 50 (humans) W: Weathering -10 R: Runoff - 20 B: Burial - 13 D: Decay - 200 G: Growth - 200

Phosphorus cycles (4): residence times

CSU

Phosphorous has no stable gas phase and ,so addition of P to land is slow (low rain P). Most P in plants is between living and dead plants. Humans have greatly accelerated P transfer from rocks to plants and soils (about 5 times faster than weathering). Natural transfer of P from ocean to land is very small... less than 0.03 mt/yr for sea spray. Sources for human mining are very old (10 to 15 million years ago) rocks formed in shallow seas which dried up. Phosphorous is a strongly limiting nutrient because it cannot be transferred from the ocean to plants very effectively.

Phosphorus cycles (5): fluxes

CSU

Ocean deposits: 5,000 years (with respect to input). Availability to marine organisms is limited by the fact that most P is in the deep ocean. Land deposits: for phosphate rocks, 44 years. Longer if less concentrated deposits are mined (~ 175 years).

Ciclos na natureza (1)

Klee, RJ, Graedel, TE. Annual Review of Environmental Resources. 2004. 29:69107.

Os resultados de Klee e Graedel (2004) correspondem a um estudo dos ciclos de diferentes elementos qumicos. O que os autores chamam de mobilizao o fluxo dos elementos qumicos entre reservatrios. No caso do carbono, a mobilizao natural corresponde produo de plantas, ao decaimento nos oceanos e liberao de carbono dos oceanos para a atmosfera. A mobilizao antropognica corresponde queima de combustveis fsseis e queima de biomassa (que inclui desmatamento, combusto, e a queima de resduos agrcolas). Segundo os autores, apenas alguns elementos qumicos tm tanto mobilizao natural quanto antropognica. Os autores citam o carbono, nitrognio, enxofre, fsforo e mercrio. No caso do carbono, do nitrognio e do enxofre, as influncias antropognicas so consideradas perturbaes dos ciclos naturais.

Ciclos na natureza (2) (Klee e Graedel, 2004))

A mobilizao antropognica de Carbono, Nitrognio e Fsforo. O problema est em que tais mobilizaes alteram ciclos vitais no planeta.

Ciclo de Carbono
Klee e Graedel (2004) Mobilizao Antropognica [Gg/ano] Minerao Mobilizao Natural [Gg/ano]
4.860 Mobilizao total [Gg/ano] 9.991
Antropognica/ Natural

________ Decaimento no oceano 7.013.630 Oceano p/ atmosfera 4.110.800 Produo de plantas 11.124.430 Total

118.450.281

Fsseis Biomassa Total

10,37% 9,39%

107.311.000

Antropognica/ Total

107.325.851

Gg = 1.000 t