2. Compose few lines
Sunlight
Auto and
factory
emissions
CO2 cycle
Photosynthesis
Plant
respiration
respiration
Organic carbon
Decay
organismis
Root
respiration
Dead organisms
and waste products
Fossils and fossil fuels
Answers
Answer:
Eventually, all living things die. And except in very rare cases, all of those dead things will rot. But that’s not the end of it. What rots will wind up becoming part of something else.
This is how nature recycles. Just as death marks the end of an old life, the decay and decomposition that soon follow provide material for new life.
“Decomposition breaks apart dead bodies,” explains Anne Pringle. She’s a biologist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
When any organism dies, fungi and bacteria get to work breaking it down. Put another way, they decompose things. (It’s the mirror image of composing, where something is created.) Some decomposers live in leaves or hang out in the guts of dead animals. These fungi and bacteria act like built-in destructors.
Soon, more decomposers will join them. Soil contains thousands of types of single-celled fungi and bacteria that take things apart. Mushrooms and other multi-celled fungi also can get into the act. So can insects, worms and other invertebrates.
Yes, rotting can be yucky and disgusting. Still, it is vitally important. Decomposition aids farmers, preserves forest health and even helps make biofuels. That is why so many scientists are interested in decay, including how climate change and pollution may affect it.
Welcome to the world of rot.
Why we need rot
Decomposition isn’t just the end of everything. It’s also the start. Without decay, none of us would exist.
“Life would end without rot,” observes Knute Nadelhoffer. He’s an ecologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “Decomposition releases the chemicals that are critical for life.” Decomposers mine them from the dead so that these recycled materials can feed the living.
rot carbon cycle
In the carbon cycle, decomposers break down dead material from plants and other organisms and release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, where it’s available to plants for photosynthesis.
The most important thing recycled by rot is the element carbon. This chemical element is the physical basis of all life on Earth. After death, decomposition releases carbon into the air, soil and water. Living things capture this liberated carbon to build new life. It’s all part of what scientists call the carbon cycle .
“The carbon cycle really is about life and death,” observes Melanie Mayes. She’s a geologist and soils scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
The carbon cycle starts with plants. In the presence of sunlight, green plants combine carbon dioxide from the air with water. This process, called photosynthesis, creates the simple sugar glucose. It’s made of nothing more than the carbon, oxygen and hydrogen in those starting materials.
Plants use glucose and other sugars to grow and fuel all of their activities, from breathing and growth to reproduction. When plants die, carbon and other nutrients stay in their fibers. Stems, roots, wood, bark and leaves all contain these fibers.