Final answer:
Matter recycles through the biosphere due to biogeochemical cycles that involve both living organisms and nonliving factors which ensure essential nutrients and water are continuously available to organisms within ecosystems.
Step-by-step explanation:
Matter can recycle through the biosphere because of biogeochemical cycles. These cycles ensure that essential nutrients like carbon and nitrogen, as well as water, are always available to organisms within ecosystems. Unlike energy, which flows directionally and is eventually lost as heat, matter is conserved and reused in different forms, interacting between biotic (living organisms) and abiotic (nonliving factors) components of an ecosystem. Microbes play a significant role in these cycles, aiding in processes like nitrogen fixation and decomposition, which make nutrients available to plants and other organisms.
Geologic processes, such as weathering, erosion, and the movement of the continental plates, also contribute to the recycling of matter by influencing the availability of nutrients in different forms across the earth's surface. This intricate network of interactions underscores the difference between how energy and matter traverse through ecosystems - with matter being a repeating cycle, in contrast to the linear flow of energy.