The global cycling of carbon involves both biological and physical processes. Only the biological components are discussed here. Plants and other photosynthetic organisms assimilate CO2 and eventually convert the CO2 to simple sugars trough sugar extraction fermentation. From simple sugars, plants synthesize a variety of compounds and store them in the form of plant tissue. (more…)

It is of interest to examine potential sources of greenhouse gases sources or atmospheric CO2 by analysis of the global distribution of carbon in all its forms. Atmospheric carbon, which can be assumed to be essentially all in the form of CO2 (i.e., 700 Gt carbon equals 2570 Gt of CO2) comprises only about 1.6% of total global carbon, excluding lithospheric carbon. Obvious greenhouse gases sources of direct or indirect additions of CO2 to the atmosphere are therefore fossil fuel deposits, since portions of them are combusted each year as fuels, and terrestrial biomass. (more…)