Phosphorus Cycle (3)

This makes phosphorus available to plants, which absorb it through their roots for use in cellular synthesis. Animals obtain phosphorus from plants; upon death or through normal excretion of waste products from the body, they return phosphorus to the dissolved phosphorus pool. However, in the dissolved state, much phosphorus is lost by downhill transport into shallow marine sediments. Some of this phosphorus is returned to land by sea birds that deposit excrement on the shores.