LIFESCI 1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 25: Calcium Carbonate, Weathering, Northern Hemisphere
Document Summary
Carbon cycle: the intricately linked network of biological and physical processes that shuttles carbon among rocks, coil, oceans, air, and organisms. Provides a fundamental organizing principle for understanding life on earth. Carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere by. Geologic inputs, mainly from volcanoes and mid-ocean ridges. Human activities, including deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. Geologic removal by chemical weathering in which co2 in rainwater reacts with exposed rocks. Photosynthesis and respiration are key processes in short-term carbon cycling. 6co2 + 6h2o c6h12o6 + 6o2. The amount of co2 returned annually to the atmosphere by aerobic respiration and related processes is about equal to the amount that plants and algae removal by photosynthesis. That is why photosynthesis does not deplete the co2 in the air. The regular oscillation of co2 reflects the seasonality of photosynthesis in the northern. Photosynthesis is seasonal, with higher rates in the summer and lower rates in the winter.
