The document summarizes the carbon cycle, which is the process by which carbon atoms are recycled through biotic and abiotic parts of the environment. It involves photosynthesis by autotrophs like plants, which use carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to produce sugars and oxygen. Heterotrophs like animals then consume the sugars through cellular respiration, releasing carbon dioxide and water. Carbon is also stored both inorganically in the atmosphere, oceans, soil and organically in living things.

1. The Carbon Cycle

2. What is carbon cycle?
• Nutrient cycle in which CARBON ATOMS are
RECYCLED through the ABIOTIC and BIOTIC
parts of an environment.

3. What is carbon cycle?
• Consists of the processes in the BIOTIC
environment:
PHOTOSYNTHESIS (in AUTHOTROPHS)
CERLLULAR RESPIRATION (in HETEROTROPHS
& AUTOTROPHS)

4. AUTOTROPHS
• Organisms having the ability to synthesize
their own food.
Plants
Examples:
&
Algae

5. AUTOTROPHS
• Organisms that can make their own food, such
us plants which make their food from
INORGANIC substances
why are autotrophs important?
Called producers because they produce
chemical energy for an entire ecosytem
Convert inorganic substances & light into
organic substances containing CHEMICAL
ENERGY (i.e. Food)

6. HETEROTROPHS
• Organisms that do not make their own food
• Also known as consumers – they “eat other
things”
• Ex. Deer, mushrooms (a decomposers), rabbits

7. HETEROTROPHS
• Various types of consumers:
1. scavengers/ Detrivores
feed on dead tissue of organisms (both plants and
animals)
Ex. Vultures , Crows, and Shirmp

8. HETEROTROPHS
2. Herbivores
Eat only plants
Ex. –Cows, Elephants, Gireffes

9. HETEROTROPHS
3. Carnivores
Eat ONLY meat
ex. Lions , tigers, sharks

10. HETEROTROPHS
4. Omnivores
eat BOTH plants and animals
ex. –bears and humans

11. HETEROTROPHS
5. Decomposers
absorb any dead material and break down
ex. – bacteria and mushrooms

12. photosynthesis
• Takes place in autotrophs, specially in the
leaves of green plants
• In photosynthesis, plants trap sunlight (energy
from the sun) and use it to create food (sugar
called glucose)
• Key- plants turn light energy into chemical
energy

13. Photosynthesis Equation
• Photosynthesis is the process in which plants
make food (sugar).
• Equation:
reactants
products
Carbon Dioxide+water+energy=sugar+oxygen

14. Photosynthesis
• Plants can’t use light energy directly, instead
they must convert it to chemical energy in the
process of photosynthesis
• This chemical energy is either
Used to survive (energy to live)
Stored as physical part of the plant (called starch)
Heterotrophs consume the plant material for this
stored chemical energy

15. Cellular Respiration
• Cellular Respiration is when food (chemical
energy) is broken down to release energy
• This is called catabolism or “digestion”
• Sugar (food) made by plants in photosynthesis
is broken down through Cellular Respiration
into an “energy form” which can be used

16. Cellular Respiration
• Cellular Respiration takes place in the
mitochondria of plants and animals cells
• In respiration, OXYGEN is combined with
SUGAR to produce ENERGY, CARBON DIOXIDE
, and WATER

17. Cellular Respiration
• The chemical equation for respiration, is
essentially the opposite of photosynthesis
• Chemical Equation:
Reactants
Products
Sugar + Oxygen = Energy + Carbon Dioxide+ Water
Cellular Respiration & Photosynthesis are
COMPLEMENTARY PROCESSES

18. Carbon storage
• Carbon is continually recycled in living
ecosystems, but it can also be destroyed
• Ways of storing carbon:
1. Inorganic Carbon Storage (non-living)
2. Organic Carbon Storage (living)

19. Inorganic Carbon Storage
• Storage of carbon atoms in non-living things
occurs in 3 ways:
1. ATMOSPHERE
carbon dioxide in the air
contains least stored carbon (0.03%)

20. Inorganic Carbon Storage
2. OCEANS
carbon dioxide dissolved in water
used by water plants for photosynthesis
3. SOIL
carbon stored in rocks such as limestone
most carbon is stored in soil/ rock
can be released when rocks are disturbed
(volcanoes, acid rain)

21. Organic Carbon Storage
• Carbon is stored in the bodies of living things
• Carbon is stored in living bodies is released
when then organisms dies and decomposes.
• Carbon is continually being recycled
• Carbon stored in a body can be turned into
fossil fuels (gas, coal, etc.)
• Peat (dead plant material) which get buried
can turn into Coal