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.
The Arctic and northern high latitudes are warming about 2–4 times faster than the global average, allowing ancient permafrost to thaw and release stored carbon. These permafrost soils currently store roughly one-third of ...
Hilly and mountainous landscapes have a much greater ability to store carbon in the soil than previously thought, according to a new study co-led by scientists at the University of Oregon.
Earth Sciences
Jun 12, 2026
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It's intuitive to think that if a tree is photosynthesizing, it's also growing. But that's not necessarily so—and a new study of oak trees, published in the journal Science Advances, found that even as they photosynthesize ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 12, 2026
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Mycorrhizal fungi form underground networks that sustain plant life and help regulate Earth's climate by drawing carbon into soils. In a study published in Science, an international team of researchers produced the first ...
Ecology
Jun 11, 2026
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Ice-age sea-level declines may have turned seafloor volcanoes into natural iron fertilizer for plankton, potentially enhancing ocean carbon storage, Boston College researchers report in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Earth Sciences
Jun 10, 2026
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An international team of scientists has discovered that plants are not responding to global warming in the way researchers long assumed. Scientists have expected that ecosystems would keep pace with warming by raising the ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 3, 2026
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30
Many rivers flow into the Arctic Ocean north of the Arctic Circle—including the Lena in Siberia and the Mackenzie River in Canada. The deltas of these large and small rivers store large amounts of carbon, which is bound there ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 3, 2026
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A new study in Nature Communications finds a critical climate tipping point in Tibetan permafrost ecosystems. Warming of 2–4 degrees Celsius triggers a self-reinforcing cycle of carbon release that could significantly accelerate ...
Mangroves could store less carbon—and even begin releasing it—as sea levels rise, suggests new research in Earth's Future. Mangroves are made up of salt-tolerant plants that grow in coastal areas. They cover less than 1% ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 3, 2026
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Diminishing periods of snow cover in northern forests, shortened by climate change, are poised to disrupt a delicate balance in some of the planet's most climate-sensitive regions—according to new research from McMaster University, ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 2, 2026
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