Plant Update & Its Role in the Biogeochemical Cycles

Last Tuesday, our plant was just a tiny seedling, but after a week our broccoli has grown tremendously. Because of all the space in the garden box, the roots were able to expand, allowing the leaves to grow. The leaves are very big, about five inches long, and they are a dark green color with a purple stem. Currently, they have some competition and minor predation. They are competing for space. However, the leaves are gradually being eaten by small caterpillars in the garden box. Besides the small holes in the plant's leaves, our plant is doing well.
The plant becomes part of the water cycle when the roots soak up the water from the soil. They use this water in the process of photosynthesis. It helps make sugars, which plants use for food. After our plant uses as much water as it needs, transpiration takes place. Transpiration is the evaporation of water from the different parts of the plants. The last way our plant participates in the is when it uses the rain water (precipitation) for hydration.
 Our plant also participates in the carbon cycle with the process of photosynthesis. The broccoli takes in the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and uses it to make food and energy for itself; this helps the plant grow. Later, during plant respiration, the plant releases CO2 back into the atmosphere for the cycle to start over.
In the nitrogen cycle, the plant receives nitrogen from the nitrates in the soil and water. After our plant dies, it decays, leaving nitrogen behind in the atmosphere. Our plant's role in the nitrogen cycle relates to the plant's growth because the plant uses the nitrogen and its nutrients to make food for itself, which also helps the plant grow.