carbon_cycle.docx | |
File Size: | 363 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Rationale
Carbon is present in all living things, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and dissolved in water, fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) and dead organic matter. In the rainforest the natural course of life and death moves through the environment in a process known as the carbon cycle. the foundation of the carbon cycle is in plants, during photosynthesis carbon is absorbed by the plants and when the plants dies it releases the carbon back into the atmosphere. Also, Carbon can be absorbed into the body of animals feeding upon the plant, whereupon the carbon will be passed up the length of the food chain, being released during respiration, and when the top predator dies. This cycle is important to this biome and the animals that live in it because carbon is not very abundant and it cannot be made again without going through this cycle. The way matter flows through an ecosystem differs from the way energy flows through the ecosystem because unlike the one-way flow of energy, matter is recycled within and between ecosystems.