The Carbon Cycle Flashcards
What happens to carbon during then process of photosynthesis in producers?
The inorganic carbon contained within carbon dioxide gas is fixed into organic carbon within carbohydrates (may be converted later to fats and proteins)
What happens to carbon during respiration in living organisms?
The carbon with organic compounds (carbohydrates, fats, proteins) is released as inorganic carbon within carbon dioxide gas
How do consumers gain carbon?
- Feeding on complex organic compounds in plants and animals
- Followed by digestion
- Followed by assimilation into required complex carbon compounds again
What role do decomposers (saprobiotic microbes) play in the carbon cycle?
They break down the carbon-containing organic compounds trapped within dead plants and animals as well as in animal excretory products and release the carbon as carbon dioxide gas in respiration
What happens to carbon during fossilisation?
On environments in which decay and decomposition of dead plants and animals is impossible, carbon becomes locked inside coil, peat, oil and gas (fossil fuels)
What process releases carbon dioxide gas from the carbon locked inside fossil fuels?
Combustion
What process might have contributed to an increase in global carbon dioxide levels over the last couple centuries?
-combustion of fossil fuels
-deforestation
What processes have ensured that there is enough oxygen in earths atmosphere to sustain complex life?
Photosynthesis in plants
Apart from trapped within fossil fuels, where else do we find vast reserves of carbon dioxide?
In the worlds oceans, dissolved as hydrogen carbonate ions
In what way do the oceans act as a buffer for CO2 levels in the atmosphere?
They take up CO2 from the atmosphere and return it to the atmosphere as needed
Complete the carbon cycle
From revision notes
