Carbon Cycle

Carbon uptake by plants (the harvesting of light energy into chemical bond energy)
$CO_2 + H_{2}0 = CH_{2}0 + 0_2$
a high energy compound, organic matter, $CH_{2}0$ is short for carbohydrate and includes glucose
primary production
Carbon fixation
the base of the food web

Sunlight to power it
nutrients to provide complete building blocks of life
- nitrogren (forms are nitrate and ammonia)
- P (phosphorus, in the form of ${PO_{4}}^3$)
  - used for ATP, energy transfer
- others in the form of Silicon, iron, pottasium

Nutrient Recycling also called emineralization is the process of releasing the nitrate and ammonium as well as phosphate back into the environment
Fixation: going from a gas to a particulate solid form
- generates biomass
Heterotrophic respiration: microbial respiration, demoposition, animal respiration
Autotrophic respiration: has the same equation

Autotroph: self feeding,uses energy from the sun to fix carbon. Primary producers
Heterotroph: eats others. obtains energy from eating plants (herbivore, seocondary producers) or animals that have eaten plants, carnivore, teriary producer
10% energy transfer 90% loss (generalization)
in the dark respiration gives off $CO_{2}$ from the earths surface back to the atmosphere. This is also a FLUX
for aquatic: respiration and photsynthesis work the same ways in both systems.
biomass = standing stock of living matter
production: new growth of living matter
if production = death than biomass is at a steady state
steady state inputs = outputs. No change in amount.
Biomass has units of mass per area : mass / area
production has units of mass per area per time : Mass / (area * time)
if input = output - resevoir is at steady state
residence time is amount of biomass (mass / area) / input
mass / (area * time) = units of time
residence time is also called turnover time

represents transfer of carbon to living pool to dead carbon pool, solid organic matter
can take place from learf fall (litter) to the soil surface or from root sloughing and dissolved organic matter production below ground
dead carbon pool is decomposed by "decomposers". Heterotrophic micobes (bacteria) and heterotropic organisms like earth worms
carbon is respired back to $CO_{2}$ and $H_{2}O$
depicts aerobic respiration but anaerobic repiration takes place also. Anaerobic respiration does not use oxygen

are pathways for transformation and transport of matter within four areas that comprise the earth
biosphere (living things): the living earth
lithosphere (crust): soils, the solid or molten earth
hydrosphere (ocean): liquid earth (cryo is the frozen)
atmosphere (least dense, less mass, easy to change): gasous earth