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The Terrestrial Carbon Cycle

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The Terrestrial Carbon Cycle

Carbon moves through the terrestrial realm through five main processes, which are represented as blue arrows in the figure below:

Schematic illustration to show terrestrial processes of carbon flow: photosynthesis, litter fall, plant respiration, soil respiration, run-off
Carbon Flow in Terrestrial Reservoirs
Credit: David Bice © Penn State University is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

We will briefly explore these processes, beginning with photosynthesis.