carbon cycle

• What is carbon considered in relation to life on Earth?

  Essential building block for all life
• How does carbon regulate global climate?

  It regulates temperature and acidity of water
• What are the key carbon cycles operating at a global level?

  Lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere
• What components are involved in carbon cycles?

  Inputs, stores, fluxes/flows, outputs
• What is carbon dioxide's chemical formula?

  CO₂
• Where is methane primarily found?

  Rocks, oceans, permafrost, soils
• What are hydrocarbons?

  Fossil fuels found in sedimentary rocks
• What is calcium carbonate commonly found in?

  Limestone rock, shells, eggs
• What percentage of the total dry mass of living things do carbon biomolecules form?

  50%
• How can the global carbon system be subdivided?

  Land, oceans, atmosphere
• What are the two systems of carbon flows/fluxes?

  • Long-term or slow carbon cycle
  • Short-term or fast carbon cycle
• How long does it take for carbon to flow through the slow carbon cycle?

  100 to 200 million years
• How much more carbon does the fast carbon cycle move compared to the slow cycle?

  Up to a thousand times more
• What are the main stores of carbon in the carbon cycle?

  Biosphere, lithosphere, pedosphere, cryosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere
• What is the residence time of carbon in the biosphere?

  • 18 years
• What is the largest carbon store?

  Lithosphere
• What is the residence time of carbon in the lithosphere?

  240 to 300 million years
• What does the pedosphere store as organic matter?

  300 billion tonnes of carbon
• What is the residence time of carbon in the cryosphere?

  Thousands of years
• What is the main form of carbon in the atmosphere?

  Carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄)
• How long does carbon reside in the hydrosphere's surface?

  25 years
• What is the residence time of carbon in the hydrosphere's deep layer?

  1250 years
• What is the significance of the global distribution of vegetation?

  It changes the amount of stored carbon
• Where is carbon uptake higher?

  Middle/high latitudes of the northern hemisphere
• How does seasonal change affect carbon in the terrestrial biosphere?

  Plants grow and decay differently in seasons
• How do CO₂ emissions change with the seasons?

  Plants intake more CO₂ during growth
• How do different terrestrial ecosystems store carbon?

  Large trees store more carbon than small plants
• What are the processes involved in carbon transfer at a plant scale?

  • Photosynthesis
  • Respiration
  • Decomposition
  • Combustion
• What is the role of a tree's wood in carbon storage?

  Acts as a carbon store, approximately 50% carbon
• What is a 'sere' in ecology?

  A stage in vegetation succession
• What is a lithosere?

  Vegetation succession on bare rock
• What is a hydrosere?

  Vegetation succession in freshwater
• What is a halosere?

  Vegetation succession in salt-rich conditions
• What is a psammosere?

  Vegetation succession in sandy areas
• What happens when environmental equilibrium is reached in a sere?

  Further succession stops
• What determines the final stage of vegetation in a sere?

  Climatic conditions
• What is the usual climatic climax community for a lithosere in the UK?

  Deciduous wood
• What is the complexity of the carbon cycle at a 'sere' scale?

  • Involves numerous stores
  • Many transfers vary over space and time
• What does the carbon cycle at a continental scale involve?

  All fast and slow carbon cycles
• How does human activity affect the carbon cycle?

  Increases carbon dioxide in the atmosphere