Carbon Cycle Outline

1. Carbon cycle is based upon carbon dioxide

• 0.03% is the carbon found in the atmosphere
• Carbon has a fast rate of recycle

2. Many organisms have a high demand for carbon

• plants
• bacteria
• algae

3. Photosynthetic activities cause this demand

• These demands results in carbon fixation
• Organisms that fix carbon
  1. Cyanobacteria
  2. green plants
  3. algae
  4. green bacteria
  5. purple sulfur bacteria

4. Heteroptropic organism do not have the ability to photosynthesize

• They must obtain their carbon indirectly from organisms that can fix it
• Example some bacteria, protists, fungi, and animals
• They consume photoautotrophs, digested and resynthesized, up the food chain

5. Carbon compound are broken down also by

• respiration
• fermentation
• decomposition
• all released carbon dioxide into the atmosphere

6. Carbon is also stored in

• rocks like limestones are dissolved in the ocean as carbonate ions
• Minerals as coal and petroleum released by burning into the atmosphere

7. Burning of fossil fuels could result in the greenhouse affect around the earth