Editing Food web (section)

==Material flux and recycling==
{{main|Nutrient cycle}}

Many of the Earth's [[Chemical element|element]]s and [[minerals]] (or mineral nutrients) are contained within the tissues and diets of organisms. Hence, mineral and nutrient cycles trace [[food]] web energy pathways. Ecologists employ stoichiometry to analyze the ratios of the main elements found in all organisms: carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P). There is a large transitional difference between many terrestrial and aquatic systems as C:P and C:N ratios are much higher in terrestrial systems while N:P ratios are equal between the two systems.<ref name="Pomeroy70">{{cite journal | last1=Pomeroy | first1=L. R. | title=The strategy of mineral cycling | journal=Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics | volume=1 | pages=171–190 | jstor=2096770 | doi=10.1146/annurev.es.01.110170.001131| year=1970 }}</ref><ref name="Elser00">{{cite journal | last1=Elser | first1=J. J. | last2=Fagan | first2=W. F. | last3=Donno | first3=R. F. | last4=Dobberfuhl | first4=D. R. | last5=Folarin | first5=A. | last6=Huberty | first6=A. | title=Nutritional constraints in terrestrial and freshwater food webs | year=2000 | journal=Nature | volume=408 | issue=6812 | pages=578–580 | doi=10.1038/35046058 | url=http://www.rug.nl/biologie/onderzoek/onderzoekInstituten/cees/colloquia/pdf/elser_et_al2_2000.pdf | display-authors=etal | pmid=11117743 | bibcode=2000Natur.408..578E | s2cid=4408787 }}{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Koch09">{{cite book | last1=Koch | first1=P. L. | last2=Fox-Dobbs | first2=K. | last3=Newsom | first3=S. D. | chapter=The isotopic ecology of fossil vertebrates and conservation paleobiology | title=Conservation paleobiology: Using the past to manage for the future, Paleontological Society short course | series=The Paleontological Society Papers | volume=15 | editor1-last=Diet | editor1-first=G. P. | editor2-last=Flessa | editor2-first=K. W. | pages=95–112 | url=http://www.es.ucsc.edu/~pkoch/pdfs/Koch%20papers/2009/Koch%20et%2009%20PSP%2015.pdf | access-date=2011-06-14 | archive-date=2016-03-04 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304212956/http://www.es.ucsc.edu/~pkoch/pdfs/Koch%20papers/2009/Koch%20et%2009%20PSP%2015.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Mineral nutrients]] are the material resources that organisms need for growth, development, and vitality. Food webs depict the pathways of mineral [[nutrient cycling]] as they flow through organisms.<ref name="Odum05" /><ref name="Lindeman42" /> Most of the primary production in an ecosystem is not consumed, but is recycled by detritus back into useful nutrients.<ref name="Moore04">{{cite journal | last1=Moore | first1=J. C. | last2=Berlow | first2=E. L. | last3=Coleman | first3=D. C. | last4=de Ruiter | first4=P. C. | last5=Dong | first5=Q. | last6=Hastings | first6=A. | s2cid=2635427 | title=Detritus, trophic dynamics and biodiversity | journal=Ecology Letters | year=2004 | volume=7 | issue=7 | pages=584–600 | doi=10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00606.x| bibcode=2004EcolL...7..584M |display-authors=etal}}</ref> Many of the Earth's microorganisms are involved in the formation of [[minerals]] in a process called [[biomineralization]].<ref name="Lowenstam81">{{cite journal | first1=Lowenstam | last1=H. A. | s2cid=31036238 | title=Minerals formed by organisms. | doi=10.1126/science.7008198  | journal=Science | year=1981 | volume=211 | issue=4487 | pages=1126–1131 | jstor=1685216 | pmid=7008198| bibcode=1981Sci...211.1126L }}</ref><ref name="Warren03">{{cite journal | last1=Warren | first1=L. A. | last2=Kauffman | first2=M. E. | title=Microbial geoengineers | journal=Science | year=2003 | volume=299 | issue=5609 | pages=1027–1029 | doi=10.1126/science.1072076 | jstor=3833546 | pmid=12586932| s2cid=19993145 }}</ref><ref name="González-Muñoz10">{{cite journal | last1=González-Muñoz | first1=M. T. | last2=Rodriguez-Navarro | first2=C. | last3=Martínez-Ruiz | first3=F. | last4=Arias | first4=J. M. | last5=Merroun | first5=M. L. | last6=Rodriguez-Gallego | first6=M. | title=Bacterial biomineralization: new insights from Myxococcus-induced mineral precipitation. | journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications | volume=336 | issue=1 | pages=31–50 | doi=10.1144/SP336.3 | url=http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/336/1/31.abstract| bibcode=2010GSLSP.336...31G | year=2010 | s2cid=130343033 }}</ref> Bacteria that live in [[detritus|detrital]] [[sediments]] create and cycle nutrients and biominerals.<ref name="Gonzalez-Acosta05">{{cite journal | last1=Gonzalez-Acosta | first1=B. | last2=Bashan | first2=Y. | last3=Hernandez-Saavedra | first3=N. Y. | last4=Ascencio | first4=F. | last5=De la Cruz-Agüero | first5=G. | title=Seasonal seawater temperature as the major determinant for populations of culturable bacteria in the sediments of an intact mangrove in an arid region. | journal=FEMS Microbiology Ecology | volume=55 | issue=2 | pages=311–321 | doi=10.1111/j.1574-6941.2005.00019.x | pmid=16420638 | url=http://www.bashanfoundation.org/gmaweb/pdfs/mangrovebalandra.pdf| year=2006 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2006FEMME..55..311G }}</ref> Food web models and nutrient cycles have traditionally been treated separately, but there is a strong functional connection between the two in terms of stability, flux, sources, sinks, and recycling of mineral nutrients.<ref name="DeAngelis89">{{cite journal | last1=DeAngelis | first1=D. L. | last2=Mulholland | first2=P. J. | last3=Palumbo | first3=A. V. | last4=Steinman | first4=A. D. | last5=Huston | first5=M. A. | last6=Elwood | first6=J. W. | title=Nutrient dynamics and food-web stability. | journal=Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics | volume=20 | year=1989 | pages=71–95 | jstor=2097085 | doi=10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.20.1.71}}</ref><ref name="Twiss96">{{cite journal | last1=Twiss | first1=M. R. | last2=Campbell | first2=P. G. C. | last3=Auclair | first3=J. | title=Regeneration, recycling, and trophic transfer of trace metals by microbial food-web organisms in the pelagic surface waters of Lake Erie. | journal=Limnology and Oceanography | volume=41 | issue=7 | year=1996 | pages=1425–1437 | doi=10.4319/lo.1996.41.7.1425 | bibcode=1996LimOc..41.1425T | doi-access=free }}</ref>