Role of Organisms in Carbon Cycle

Our Planet
© Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government

Organisms play an important role in the carbon cycle in the following ways:

• Plants absorb carbon from the environment in photosynthesis and return it in respiration.
• Animals obtain their carbon by eating plants; they release carbon in respiration.
• Micrororganisms (such as fungi and bacteria) return carbon to the environment when they decompose dead plants and animals.
• Burning fossil fuels increases carbon dioxide in air and deforestation decreases uptake of carbon dioxide by plants (The Physics Teacher, 2018).