Carbon cycle

• Carbon enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide from respiration and combustion.
• Carbon dioxide is absorbed by producers to make carbohydrates in photosynthesis.
• Animals feed on plants, passing the carbon compounds along the food chain.
• Most carbon consumed by animals is exhaled as carbon dioxide during respiration.
• The animals and plants eventually die.
• Dead organisms are eaten by decomposers and carbon in their bodies is returned to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
• In some conditions, decomposition is blocked, and the plant and animal material may then be available as fossil fuel in the future for combustion.
• Combustion of fossil fuels releases CO2.
• Deforestation removes photosynthesising biomass.