Photosynthesis
This gas is used by plants during photosynthesis to build sugars
What is Carbon Dioxide (CO2)?
This is the gas that all living organisms release during respiration
What is carbon dioxide (CO2)
Fungi and bacteria play this crucial role in the carbon cycle.
What are decomposers?
The exchange of carbon between the atmosphere and the ocean surface is known by this general term.
What is the carbon exchange (or carbon flux)?
This event releases carbon into the atmosphere from the Earth's crust.
What is a volcanic eruption?
Besides sunlight and carbon dioxide this compound is essential for photosynthesis
What is Water (H2O)?
Organisms perform this process to break down sugars for energy, releasing carbon back into the atmosphere
What is cellular respiration?
When organisms die, this is the process that returns carbon to the soil and atmosphere.
What is decomposition?
This marine life, which conducts photosynthesis, absorbs large amounts of carbon from the surface ocean.
What are phytoplankton?
Long-dead organic material, trapped under pressure for millions of years, can become this type of fuel.
What are fossil fuels?
This organelle which contains chlorophyll, is where photosynthesis occurs
What is the chloroplast?
This process is the reverse chemical reaction of photosynthesis, with carbon being released from a sugar molecule.
What is respiration?
Under anaerobic conditions, incomplete decomposition can lead to the formation of this carbon-rich material.
What is methane (CH4)?
When CO2 dissolves in the ocean, it forms this acid, which can negatively impact marine ecosystems.
What is carbonic acid?
The burning of fossil fuels is this process, which rapidly releases geologically-stored carbon into the atmosphere.
What is acidification? (CO2 dissolving in water)
What is the high energy sugar produced during photosynthesis, which stores carbon
What is glucose?
If respiration adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which process in the carbon cycle stores carbon long-term and slows its return to the atmosphere?
What is carbon sequestration? (the long-term storage of carbon in soils, forests, oceans, or geological formations.)
This category of organisms converts the carbon in dead plants and animals back into an inorganic form.
What are decomposers?
The deep ocean stores more carbon than the atmosphere through this process, which can isolate carbon for centuries.
What is the biological pump (deep ocean sequestration)?
This slow process buries carbon-rich sediments deep within the Earth, effectively removing it from the shorter-term carbon cycle.
What is lithification or sedimentation? (slow carbon storage in rock)
The Calvin cycle produces what final product
What is glucose (Sugar)?
In the context of the carbon cycle, what natural process counterbalances the CO₂ added to the atmosphere by respiration?
What is carbon fixation? (the process by which CO₂ is incorporated into organic compounds during photosynthesis.)
While decaying plants release some CO₂, what is the primary process through which carbon from dead organisms is returned to the atmosphere?
What is decomposition by decomposers?
This term describes the ocean's ability to absorb and store carbon dioxide, a capacity that is changing due to climate change.
What is ocean buffering capacity (or Ocean carbon sink capacity)?
The movement of tectonic plates can subduct carbon-rich ocean sediments, a process that is key to this long-term carbon cycle category.
What is subduction? (plate tectonics moving carbon into Earths crust)