Drag the labels onto the diagram to identify how chemicals cycle in an ecosystem.

The gas we exhale is CO2 (we breathe in oxygen) while plants breathe in CO2 and give off oxygen, as a result of photosynthesis (which utilizes CO2, sunlight, and water to produce the oxygen). Plants produce the food glucose. Cell respiration results in CO2 molecules and ATP or adenosine triphosphate.

Nutrients move through the ecosystem in biogeochemical cycles. This creates a gateway through which a chemical element moves through the biotic and the abiotic factors of an ecosystem. This includes living organisms, rocks, air, water, and chemicals.