The document discusses nutrient cycles at multiple levels - within ecosystems, globally, and how they interconnect. At the ecosystem level, nutrients cycle between living organisms and non-living components like soil, water and atmosphere through various processes. Globally, nutrient loss from one ecosystem becomes a gain for others, and the cycling of elements like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and water occur at the planetary scale through the biosphere, atmosphere and lithosphere. Human activities are increasingly impacting global nutrient cycles.