Question

How does the water cycle through the nonliving part of the ecosystem?

Answer 1

Water cycles through the nonliving parts of the ecosystem by the biogeochemical cycle called ‘water cycle’. The water follows a cyclic path to keep a balance of the water level of the earth as well as our ecosystem. Water is the most essential entity of the ecosystem which needs to be replenished over time gradually.

Complete answer:
The water cycle is an important biogeochemical cycle of the ecosystem. Water cycle takes place as follows-
When sunlight falls on various water bodies- lakes, ponds, oceans or reservoirs, water gets evaporated as water vapour into the atmosphere. If sunlight falls on snow it either gets melted and evaporates or directly sublimes to the atmosphere in the form of water vapour. This process is called evaporation. As more and more water vapour starts accumulating into the atmosphere, the water vapour gets condensed to form clouds. When more and more water droplets start accumulating the weight becomes unbearable and they come down as rainfall or precipitation. If it falls in colder climatic regions the precipitation comes down as hail or snow forming snow-caps. When the waterfalls in the form of rain or snow it can again evaporate in presence of sunlight and begin the cycle. This process continues and the level of water on the earth remains constant from time to time.

Note: The water which cycles in the ecosystem, when it reaches the soil is also taken up / absorbed by the plant and utilized for other metabolic processes. A certain amount of water percolates into the soil and stored as groundwater whereas a certain amount which is not absorbed flows as surface run-off.
Plants lose major parts of water from leaves as transpiration which also contributes to the water cycle as the transpired water evaporates as vapour forming clouds which comes down as rainfall.