Lady Ann E.

Murillo III-BEEd March 25, 2019

Principles of Ecology MWF 8-9 A.M

Application of Carbon Cycle as Principles in

Combating Climate Change

Carbon is an essential part of all organic molecules, and, carbon

compounds such as carbon dioxide, CO2, and methane, CH4 , as constituents
of the atmosphere, substantially influence global climate(Molles,2016). This
means that the carbon regulates Earth’s temperature as it traps the heat by
the atmosphere. It is the building block of life on Earth.
Carbon cycle begins with photosynthetic organism taking up carbon
dioxide – carbon fixation because carbon is changed from gaseous CO2 to less
mobile organic molecules (Cabildo et.al,2008). Carbon dioxide is removed from
a large atmospheric pool by photosynthesis. It is returned to this pool by
respiration (Krohne, 2012). This implies that carbon moves between organisms
and the atmosphere. As living organisms release carbon by respiration and
decomposition whereas plants move carbon from the atmosphere through
photosynthesis. Oceans also play a vital role in the carbon cycle as it stores
amount of carbon (Molles, 2016). As the streams, rivers and runoff dissolve
carbons in rocks and carries it through the oceans; the cold ocean water
dissolves the carbon in the atmosphere and absorbs the carbon dioxide
released from burning of fossil fuels and destruction of vegetations then the
warm ocean water releases carbon into the atmosphere as it warms. These
processes are just part of how carbon moves between organisms and the
atmosphere and regulates climate change as it is the primary greenhouse gas.
However, because of the human activities there are tremendous changes
in the carbon cycle. These are the excessive burning of fossil fuels and clearing
forests through the use of fire increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. These human activities emit more carbon dioxide than Earth’s
natural processes of recycling the carbon. As effect of the increasing amount of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the past years, change in global
temperature occurs. The increasing atmospheric concentration of CO2 pushes
more of the gas into oceans where it is lowering the pH of seawater (Molles,
2016) since oceans are major reservoirs of stored carbon.
To sum it up, carbon cycle is primarily one of the principles in fighting
against climate change. However, as years passed by, the concentration of
atmospheric carbon dioxide has changed. Up until now, the level of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere is strongly influenced by burning of fossil fuels.
Increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration are associated with
increased global temperatures and a variety of environmental impacts.

References:
 Cabildo,Jolaflor & Santa Cruz, Sheryl(2008).Ecology:A Problem Based Approach to the
Environment.Tondo, Manila, Philippines:Loacan Publishing House
 Krohne,David(2012).General Ecology 2nd Edition.Pasig City, Philippines:Cengate
Learning Asia Pte Ltd
 Molles,Manuel(2016).Ecology: Concept and Applications 7th Edition. New York:
McGraw Education