Topic summary
Nutrient cycling
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Nutrient cycle.
History
Nutrient cycling has a historical foothold in the writings of Charles Darwin, particularly in reference to the decomposition actions of earthworms. Darwin wrote about "the continued movement of the particles of earth". Even earlier, in 1749, Carl Linnaeus wrote: "the economy of nature we understand the all-wise disposition of the creator in relation to natural things, by which they are fitted to produce general ends, and reciprocal uses", in reference to the balance of nature in his book Oeconomia Naturae. In this book, he captured the notion of ecological recycling: "The 'reciprocal uses' are the key to the whole idea, for 'the death, and destruction of one thing should always be subservient to the restitution of another;' thus mould spurs the decay of dead plants to nourish the soil, and the earth then 'offers again to plants from its bosom, what it has received from them.'" The basic idea of a balance of nature, however, can be traced back to the Greeks: Democritus, Epicurus, and their Roman disciple Lucretius.