Carbon is one of the most essential elements on Earth. Indeed, it is present in very large quantities, with approximately 20 x 1015 tons accumulated on Earth today (Adler and Richard, 2014). Carbon is constantly evolving and being recycled, and it is mostly found in rocks, oceans, the atmosphere, plants, soil, fossil fuels and sediments. Carbon is contained in four different reservoirs which are the ocean, the atmosphere, in land plants and in the earth (soil and fossils) and moves through them constantly. Indeed, as shown on the diagram, carbon penetrates the atmosphere as carbon dioxide because of respiration of organisms and combustion. Then, the process of photosynthesis begins, where plants use sunlight to fix carbon dioxide to change it into carbohydrates and oxygen. …show more content…
Thus, if one of the reservoirs is overflowing, the others will be impacted too, resulting to a disruption of the cycle, and currently carbon is overly present in the atmosphere, which leads to an increase of the temperature (Holli Riebeek, NASA, 2011). More carbon in the atmosphere can perhaps mean an increase of plants on land, as it can help them grow more, however because of deforestation and clearing land, the amount of carbon present in the air maybe too important for plants to be able to absorb everything. Therefore, how is the change in carbon cycle affecting plants and what are the consequences? Are the effects of the change in the carbon cycle positive and what are the factors responsible for these