Carbon Cycle
Carbon is one of the most critical elements in the physical environment. It is essential to all life forms because they cannot survive without converting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to carbon-based organic molecules of living organisms.
The carbon cycle recycles carbon at varying rates in different areas of the environment. It involves long-term carbon cycling through geologic processes and rapid carbon exchange among organisms in the earthβs atmosphere, surface, and crust.
This nutrient cycling occurs everywhere because carbon is stored in inorganic mineral nutrients in crustal rocks, the oceans, and the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide cycles faster between the atmosphere and organisms. Using photosynthesis, plants and marine organisms convert carbon dioxide into organic carbon.
This conversion helps them produce other organic molecules like starch, lipids, and proteins, which are necessary for the survival of animals and other living organisms that feed on them. Then, they break down the organic molecules in aerobic cellular respiration, which consumes oxygen and releases energy, water, and carbon dioxide.
The carbon dioxide released from the process returns to the atmosphere, where the cycle repeats itself. Carbon also recycles itself by decomposing living organisms and other organic matter.
The decomposition process involves bacteria and fungi breaking down complex organic compounds. The bacteria and fungi then release carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration go hand in hand in cycling carbon. Besides burning fossil fuels, these are the only ways to process CO2 and return it to the atmosphere. So, a significant change in any of these processes influences the amount of carbon in the air.