Carbon Cycle Is a Complex

Carbon Cycle is a complex process that allows carbon, one of the basic components of life on Earth, to recycle and rotate through a series of processes designed to utilize the maximum amount of energy present for the environment. All terrestrial life is based on the element carbon -- which is the basic element of organic matter -- all the way from fossil fuels to complex DNA and RNA molecules that control genetic reproduction. Essentially, plants, animals, and soil interact to make up the most basic cycle of nature. In this cycle, plants absorb the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, combined with water and the process of photosynthesis from light, to make the foods needed for growth -- sugars. One stage of animals, herbivores, ingest the plant material and produce both waste that fertilizes the plants and act as a food source for higher level predators, the carnivores. Any carbon-based life that dies -- human, animal or plant, are buried and may turn into fossil fuels made of carbon or disseminate into other basic substances that nurture plants. The cycle continues and organic carbon is released back into the atmosphere through plant and animal respiration. Carbon released into the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, acts as a greenhouse gas and traps heat in the atmosphere, allowing the planet to be warm. However, human activity and specifically the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, etc.) places more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere artificially and changes the cyclic patterns.

The water, or hydrological, cycle, is the continuous movement of water above, on, and below the earth. Like the carbon cycle, it is a natural process in which the amount of available water on the planet remains relatively consistent. Essentially, water moves from one reservoir to another -- and changes states from liquid, vapor, and ice during various places within the cycle. Large bodies of water (rivers, oceans, etc.) act as a catch place for water, and through run off and evaporation, the water is moved into the atmosphere (evaporation, condensation, precipitation) and then flows back to the earth. Some of the water is trapped in ice, acting as a long-term storage vessel. The carbon cycle impacts the water cycle in several ways: the water cycle also involves the exchange of heat energy -- thus temperature. Evaporation, for instance, cools the environment, while condensation heats it up. Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere heats the earth, and trapped water in ice melts, raising the sea levels and placing more water into the atmosphere in some areas, and in other areas greater evaporation.

Analysis - Our analysis considers a typical American backyard, this one with a pool next to the house. We can visualize the carbon and water cycle in this environment in several ways:

1. Organic Carbon is present in the soil from fossils, dead organisms, and waste products, as well as decaying organisms based on what look to be deciduous trees that will lose their leaves to decay during the Fall and Winter months.

2. While not visually seen, there are likely numbers of organisms eating the vegetative matter (insects, herbivores), while the insects also feed birds and other creatures; depositing their waste for additional plant fuel.

3. Photosynthesis occurs as plant respiration, releasing carbon into the atmosphere.

4. The area is relatively lush with large trees, giving us the hint that it is a temperate environment, certainly one in which an outdoor pool can be enjoyed during parts of the year. Water likely falls regularly, goes into the soil, and is returned to the atmosphere through respiration, condensation, and in a small way, evaporation from the pool.