AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Sedimentary rocks are the largest reservoir of the phosphorous . Phosphates are removed from the rocks (via weathering) and are distributed throughout both soils and water. Plants take up the phosphate ions from the soil.

Detailed explanation-2: -The ocean sediments are therefore by far the greatest reservoirs of phosphorus. In terrestrial ecosystems, much of the available phosphorus moves in a closed cycle between living organisms and the organic debris in the soil.

Detailed explanation-3: -Much of the phosphorus on Earth is tied up in rock and sedimentary deposits, from which it is released by weathering, leaching, and mining. Some of it passes through freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems via plants, grazers, predators, and parasites, to be returned to those ecosystems by death and decay.

Detailed explanation-4: -Soils and lake sediments are another terrestrial reservoir of phosphorus, comprising primarily inorganic phosphorus from weathered phosphate minerals, along with organic phosphorus from the decomposition, excretion, and lysis of biota (Figure 1).

Detailed explanation-5: -The largest source of phosphorus on Earth is in sediments and sedimentary rocks. The phosphorus cycle on land is very closed in such a way that any phosphorus available on the surface of the land is not stored for long but used by living things.