The Carbon Cycle

What is carbon cycle?

• Nutrient cycle in which CARBON ATOMS are
RECYCLED through the ABIOTIC and BIOTIC
parts of an environment.
 What is carbon cycle?
• Consists of the processes in the BIOTIC
environment:
PHOTOSYNTHESIS (in AUTHOTROPHS)
CERLLULAR RESPIRATION (in HETEROTROPHS
& AUTOTROPHS)
 AUTOTROPHS
• Organisms having the ability to synthesize
their own food.
Examples:
Plants & Algae
 AUTOTROPHS
• Organisms that can make their own food, such
us plants which make their food from
INORGANIC substances
why are autotrophs important?
Called producers because they produce
chemical energy for an entire ecosytem
Convert inorganic substances & light into
organic substances containing CHEMICAL
ENERGY (i.e. Food)
 HETEROTROPHS
• Organisms that do not make their own food
• Also known as consumers – they “eat other
things”
• Ex. Deer, mushrooms (a decomposers), rabbits
 HETEROTROPHS
• Various types of consumers:
1. scavengers/ Detrivores
feed on dead tissue of organisms (both plants and
animals)
Ex. Vultures , Crows, and Shirmp
 HETEROTROPHS
2. Herbivores
Eat only plants
Ex. –Cows, Elephants, Gireffes
 HETEROTROPHS
3. Carnivores
Eat ONLY meat
ex. Lions , tigers, sharks
 HETEROTROPHS
4. Omnivores
eat BOTH plants and animals
ex. –bears and humans
 HETEROTROPHS
5. Decomposers
absorb any dead material and break down
ex. – bacteria and mushrooms
 photosynthesis
• Takes place in autotrophs, specially in the
leaves of green plants
• In photosynthesis, plants trap sunlight (energy
from the sun) and use it to create food (sugar
called glucose)
• Key- plants turn light energy into chemical
energy
 Photosynthesis Equation
• Photosynthesis is the process in which plants
make food (sugar).
• Equation:
reactants products
Carbon Dioxide+water+energy=sugar+oxygen
 Photosynthesis
• Plants can’t use light energy directly, instead
they must convert it to chemical energy in the
process of photosynthesis
• This chemical energy is either
Used to survive (energy to live)
Stored as physical part of the plant (called starch)
Heterotrophs consume the plant material for this
stored chemical energy
 Cellular Respiration
• Cellular Respiration is when food (chemical
energy) is broken down to release energy
• This is called catabolism or “digestion”
• Sugar (food) made by plants in photosynthesis
is broken down through Cellular Respiration
into an “energy form” which can be used
 Cellular Respiration
• Cellular Respiration takes place in the
mitochondria of plants and animals cells
• In respiration, OXYGEN is combined with
SUGAR to produce ENERGY, CARBON DIOXIDE
, and WATER
 Cellular Respiration
• The chemical equation for respiration, is
essentially the opposite of photosynthesis
• Chemical Equation:
Reactants Products
Sugar + Oxygen = Energy + Carbon Dioxide+ Water

Cellular Respiration & Photosynthesis are

COMPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
 Carbon storage
• Carbon is continually recycled in living
ecosystems, but it can also be destroyed
• Ways of storing carbon:
1. Inorganic Carbon Storage (non-living)
2. Organic Carbon Storage (living)
 Inorganic Carbon Storage
• Storage of carbon atoms in non-living things
occurs in 3 ways:
1. ATMOSPHERE
carbon dioxide in the air
contains least stored carbon (0.03%)
 Inorganic Carbon Storage
2. OCEANS
carbon dioxide dissolved in water
used by water plants for photosynthesis
3. SOIL
carbon stored in rocks such as limestone
most carbon is stored in soil/ rock
can be released when rocks are disturbed
(volcanoes, acid rain)
 Organic Carbon Storage
• Carbon is stored in the bodies of living things
• Carbon is stored in living bodies is released
when then organisms dies and decomposes.
• Carbon is continually being recycled
• Carbon stored in a body can be turned into
fossil fuels (gas, coal, etc.)
• Peat (dead plant material) which get buried
can turn into Coal