Carbon cycling refers to the set of biogeochemical processes that regulate the transformation, transport, and storage of carbon among major Earth system reservoirs, including the atmosphere, terrestrial biosphere, oceans, and lithosphere. It encompasses autotrophic carbon fixation, heterotrophic respiration, decomposition, sedimentation, weathering, and anthropogenic fluxes such as fossil fuel combustion and land-use change. Research on carbon cycling quantifies fluxes and pool sizes, characterizes feedbacks between carbon reservoirs and climate, and employs observational networks, isotopic tracers, and Earth system models to constrain budgets, residence times, and perturbation responses across temporal scales from diurnal to geologic.
According to a predictive model developed by a CNRS researcher and his European colleagues, the microalgae present in peat bogs could offset up to 14% of future CO2 emissions, thanks to their photosynthetic activity. This ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 20, 2025
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34
It is commonly assumed that as forest ecosystems age, they accumulate and store (sequester) more carbon. A study based at the University of Michigan Biological Station has untangled carbon cycling over two centuries and found ...
Environment
Mar 18, 2025
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431
The Regional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes (RECCAP) project launched in 2011 to provide regional carbon budgets at continental and oceanic scales. However, its first phase did not examine the 24 countries in the Central ...
Environment
Mar 13, 2025
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