The Carbon Cycle is highly important to estuaries and all part of life |
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Plants photosynthesise using carbon dioxide. It takes the carbon from the carbon dioxide and makes glucose. The glucose (including the carbon!) is then eaten by a primary consumer, transferring the carbon to the other animal. The primary consumer then respires, using the oxygen to burn the glucose and breathing out the excess carbon. The plants then use the carbon dioxide to photosynthesise, starting the cycle again. Plants also respire, taking in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide however this is much less than the plant takes in. When animals die, decomposers eat their carcass, transferring the carbon again. If decomposers are unable to eat the animal, and the animal is pushed deeper and deeper into the ground. So far down, there is no oxygen, so the decomposers are unable to eat them. These are called fossil fuels. Humans then burn the fossil fuels, releasing carbon into the air. Carbon is stored either in the atmosphere, plants, animals, decomposers and fossil fuels. The atmosphere stores carbon which is mostly in the form of carbon dioxide. The amount of carbon is continually increasing. The carbon in the air is necessary for trees for photosynthesis and in turn, necessary for the trees to photosynthesize and therefore make glucose. Land plants take up around a quarter of the carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere. Soil and organic matter contain lots of carbon in the form of dead material. In the soil, decomposers break down the dead material. This process releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. There is a constant carbon dioxide exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean which occurs in the surface. Once the carbon dioxide enters the ocean, the carbon is compressed??? So that it can take more carbon. Phytoplankton breathe in the carbon dioxide and use it to grow. When they die they can either be eaten by a primary consumer, or they can sink down tot the bottom of the ocean to form sediment, the carbon is then stored at the bottom of the sea for a very long time. Sediment containing lots of calcium carbonate can be turned into rock over millions of years and eventually can be turned into oil and gas and diamond. This carbon which is locked as fossil fuels is then burnt by combustion in cars or in factories, the carbon is released as carbon dioxide and then into the atmosphere.