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.
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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Agricultural waste that is usually burned or left to rot could play a far bigger role in tackling climate change if it were instead used in long-lasting building materials, according to new research from the University of ...
Environment
Jan 31, 2026
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Mangrove forests play an important role in the global carbon cycle, particularly within the marine carbon system. Growing along tropical and subtropical coastlines, these salt-tolerant trees are among nature's most efficient ...
Soils store more carbon than the atmosphere and vegetation combined, with soil microorganisms playing the main role. As a result, the global soil carbon cycle—by which carbon enters, moves through, and leaves soils worldwide—exerts ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 19, 2026
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In a breakthrough that defies nature, Northwestern University and Stanford University synthetic biologists have created a new artificial metabolism that transforms waste carbon dioxide (CO2) into useful biological building ...
Biotechnology
Dec 22, 2025
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A research team led by Prof. Sun Chaomin from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) has unveiled the crucial role of viruses in deep-sea carbon cycling and microbial community structure. Their ...
Ecology
Dec 9, 2025
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The carbon cycle in our oceans is critical to the balance of life in ocean waters and for reducing carbon in the atmosphere, a significant process to curbing climate change or global warming.
Earth Sciences
Dec 5, 2025
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Coral reefs have long been celebrated as biodiversity hotspots—but new research shows they have also played a much deeper role: conducting the rhythm of Earth's carbon and climate cycles for more than 250 million years.
Earth Sciences
Dec 1, 2025
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247
Soils release approximately 40–60 petagrams (Pg) of carbon annually into the atmosphere through microbial metabolism. Climate warming is projected to further enhance soil microbial respiration, intensifying positive carbon–climate ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 13, 2025
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