Carbon is supplied to the biosphere as carbon dioxide during volcanic eruptions. Most of this is dissolved in the sea or built into calcareous sediments, which then form limestones and dolomites. As these rocks are folded and raised above sea level, they are subjected to solution by weak carbonic acid and form sediments once more. This is the largest and slowest of the carbon cycles. See Yuan in D. Yuan and Z. Cheng, eds (2002). The shortest cycle involves respiration by plants and animals whereby carbon dioxide is expired, and photosynthesis by plants, changing carbon dioxide and water into organic compounds. Plant species affect ecosystem carbon uptake via biomass production, and carbon release via decomposition. Dorrepaal (2007) J. Ecol. 95, 6 holds that differences in the way plants respond to climate change may feed back to the atmospheric carbon balance, and the climate at a global scale. Uncertainty in understanding the carbon cycle has significant cost implications for a climate stabilization policy, ‘with cost differences denominated in trillions of dollars’ (Smith and Edmons (2006) Tellus B 58, 5).
Since 1957, only about half of the CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel combustion have remained in the atmosphere; the rest being taken up by land and oceans. In the face of increasing fossil-fuel emissions, the rate of carbon absorption by the land and ocean has accelerated over time (Canadell et al. (2007) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 104). There is no guarantee that the 50% discount will continue; if it disappears we will feel the full climatic brunt of CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. Climate models that include descriptions of the carbon cycle predict that terrestrial uptake of carbon will decrease in the next century as the climate warms (Miller (2008) Nature 451).