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But the carbon isn't released into the atmosphere when trees rot. Dead trees turn into soil. Most of a dead tree's carbon will be bound to the ground as soil.
by anon4242 7y ago
But the carbon isn't released into the atmosphere when trees rot. Dead trees turn into soil. Most of a dead tree's carbon will be bound to the ground as soil.
- ac29 7y agoThe fungi that grow on dead trees perform cellular respiration, which releases CO2 (sugar + O2 -> CO2 + water + energy).
- kjeetgill 7y agoHuh, I had also heard (vaguely, from somewhere!) that most of the carbon does get released back into the air on rotting. Where does it go after the soil? The carbon that makes up a plant is definitely sourced from the air not the soil. If the carbon was still in the soil I'd imagine fossil fuels wouldn't need to mostly come from the Carboniferous period, right?
- Yetanfou 7y agoThere are two carbon cycles, the biological one (fast) and the geological one (slow). In the biological cycle carbon enters food chains through autotrophs (self-feeders, nearly all of them photosynthesising organisms like algae and plants) which capture carbon dioxide from air or bicarbonate ions from water and use them to make organic compounds such as glucose. These in turn get eaten by heterotrophs (other-feeders) such as animals who consume the organic molecules and break them down through cellular respiration where carbon in the molecules is released as carbon dioxide. Decomposers (fungi and bacteria) also release organic compounds and carbon dioxide when they break down dead organisms and waste products. Rinse, repeat.