shorten this : Producers make food by photosynthesis, taking in water and carbon dioxide. Producers also take in nitrogen from the soil. The food made by producers is consumed by consumers, passing water, carbon and nitrogen through the food chain. Producers release water back into the water cycle through transpiration. Consumers release water back into the water cycle through perspiration, urination, and exhalation. Both producers and consumers release carbon into the air as carbon dioxide. Decomposers break down dead and waste material from other members of the food chain. During decomposition, nitrogen, water, and carbon are released back into the environment. Nitrogen is returned to the soil, where it is converted to nitrates and can be reabsorbed by plants.
Water released by living things is evaporated and enters the water cycle. Carbon released by living things as carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere. Carbon in the atmosphere can be reabsorbed by producers and re-enter the food chain. Or it can move through the slow carbon cycle in the ocean. The carbon that living things do not release as arbon dioxide is stored in fossil fuels, which release carbon into the atmosphere when burned by humans.