The carbon cycle, as a biological process, encompasses the assimilation, transformation, and release of carbon by living organisms within the broader biogeochemical carbon flux. Primary producers fix inorganic carbon, predominantly as CO₂, into organic molecules via photosynthesis or chemosynthesis, forming the base of food webs. Heterotrophs transfer and oxidize this organic carbon through respiration, returning CO₂ to the environment. Decomposers mineralize dead biomass and organic detritus, generating CO₂ and, under anoxic conditions, methane. Biological mediation of carbon storage occurs in biomass, soils, sediments, and dissolved organic pools, tightly coupling the carbon cycle to energy flow, nutrient cycling, and ecosystem metabolism across terrestrial and aquatic systems.
There is growing interest in the scientific community and private sector in biological approaches to marine carbon dioxide removal—strategies designed to enhance the ocean's natural ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 9, 2026
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In the ocean, a haze made from tiny bits of dead plants, animals, and microbes hangs in the upper reaches of the water. Each particle is just a fraction of a micrometer across, but together the carbon within these particles ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 3, 2026
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Throughout their lifetimes, healthy forests produce more oxygen than they use, while taking in greenhouse gases via plants and soils. This ecosystem-wide service, called carbon sequestration, regulates global climate and ...
Ecology
Feb 25, 2026
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Researchers at ETH Zurich have now discovered for the first time that large blackwater lakes in the extensive peatlands of the central Congo Basin are releasing ancient carbon. To date, climate researchers had assumed that ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 23, 2026
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312
On a cool spring morning in a northern forest, the ground feels soft underfoot. Mist hangs between the trunks, and the air smells of wet leaves and old humus; the slow alchemy that keeps a forest alive. Beneath the surface, ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 17, 2026
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Some fungi are wasteful, while others recycle—and this can determine how much carbon is stored in a forest. Researchers at Lund University have now revealed how fungi manage their mycelium, the network that builds the structure ...
Ecology
Feb 13, 2026
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An international team of scientists has discovered that a small, low-abundance protein plays a surprisingly big role in assembling carboxysomes—specialized bacterial microcompartments that enable efficient carbon fixation ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 12, 2026
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A new study reports that climate warming can increase soil carbon accumulation in boreal Sphagnum peatlands by boosting plant productivity, protecting iron, and inhibiting microbial decomposition. These responses contrast ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 11, 2026
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A new book by a Cambridge engineer and an Oxford theologian argues that our faith in technology to solve the climate crisis is distracting us from the uncomfortable truth: that saving the planet is neither a task for future ...
Environment
Feb 6, 2026
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Deep beneath the Earth's surface, in the pores and crevices of rock, live huge communities of microorganisms. They are invisible to the naked eye—yet they play a central role in the quality of our groundwater and in global ...
Ecology
Feb 2, 2026
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