How does nutrient cycling affect soil fertility ?
The cycling of nutrients 1 continually converts them from one chemical form into another. Some chemical forms are readily available to growing plants while other forms are not. A soil is fertile if biological activity can easily release nutrients stored in plant residue or humus 4 (mineralization 2), if there is an abundance of rock minerals that can release nutrients as they dissolve (mineral weathering 1), or if soil contains colloids 2 that loosely bind nutrients to their surfaces.
