Carbon cycle

DNA and proteins are made up of what

many carbon molecules

how does carbon assimilate from organisms to air

through respiration

how does carbon assimilate from air into an organism

through photosynthesis

how does carbon move from one organism to another

through predation and herbivory

how does carbon move from a dead organism into the soil

through decomposition

how is carbon released into the air

as fire burn organic material

what can carbon do in the ocean

dissolves into and precipitates out of the ocean

how does carbon move from the ground into the air

through burning fossil fuels

what is the biggest carbon reservoir 

oceans ~80%

what is the second biggest carbon reservoir

fossil fuels (coal, natural, gas) ~5%

what is the third largest carbon reservoir

soils ~2.5%

why are oceans so good at storing carbon

due to solubility and biological pumps

why are solubility pumps beneficial

• co2 can soak into ocean water like a sponge

• high-latitudes absorb a particularly large amount because cold water holds co2 better than warm water

• co2 reacts either water to form carbonic acid and then bicarbonate and carbonate ions are very stable forms of carbon that stay in the ocean for centuries

why are biological pumps beneficial

• phytoplankton use CO3 for photosynthesis

• zooplankton eat phytoplankton and carbon waste from these organisms sink into the oceans and is sequestered in sediment for millennia

where is most carbon on land stored

in soils

why do boreal forests store so much carbon

they cover vast areas, support dense vegetation, and have cold, moist conditions that slow decomposition

per unit of area, what ares store the most carbon

wetlands 

what mediates carbon accumulation

foundational marsh plant species

what compound do wetlands emit a lot of

methane

what is methanes global warming potential compared to carbon dioxide

25-28 times more

why is coastal wetlands greenhouse gas inventorying uncertain

because we don’t know much about methane 

what can tell us something about carbon storage in soils

how plants allocate their biomass above and below ground

what can tell us something about potential methane emissions

the density an size of aerenchyma

what is aerenchyma

air spaces in plant stems

what is the vahsen lab

studying plant traits and how they change over time can give insight into how the carbon cycle will change 

historically, how was he carbon cycle

balanced carbon transferred out of each store/pool (atmosphere, soil, oceans, plants) about equaled carbon transferred into each store/pool

what caused the carbon cycle balance to be affected in the 1900s

humans began to burn fossil fuels for energy production

how does burning fossil fuels like coal, crude oil and natural gas affect the carbon cycle

• fossil fuels are formed from the fossilized buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. because of their origins, fossil fuels have high carbon content

• when fossil fuels are burned, their carbon molecules turn from a solid or liquid state to a gas and are emitted into he atmosphere as co2

how might humans further change the carbon cycle to combat climate change 

direct air capture through geoengineering