The Carbon Cycle

• Plants make carbon

compounds from
carbon dioxide they
take from the air.
• This happens in
photosynthesis.
• Animals obtain
carbon compounds by
eating plants or
other animals, or
both.
• Animals and plants
return carbon back
to the atmosphere
as carbon dioxide
when they respire.
• When animals and
plants die, microbes
digest them and
obtain carbon
compounds from
their bodies.
• Microbes
respire, this
releases carbon
dioxide into the
atmosphere.
• The movement of
carbon between
organisms and the
atmosphere is called
the carbon cycle.
• Burning of wood and
fossil fuels releases
large amounts of
carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere.
• Man’s activities have
caused an imbalance in
the natural carbon
cycle.
• There is now more
carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere than
before.
 The Carbon Cycle 2. Plants release
6. These CO2 through
microbes also respiration
release CO2 CO2 in air
through 1. CO2 is taken in
respiration
by plants for
photosynthesis
and turned into
carbohydrates
4. Animals
release CO2
through
respiration

3. The carbon
taken in by
5. Animals (and plants is then
plants) die and their eaten by
remains are fed on animals
by microbes