Soil Respiration : The Greatest Terrestrial Contributor Of Carbon Dioxide

Photosynthesis is essential for a plant to survive. In order to perform photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is needed and is the most important component in the creation of matter. There are two other factors that go into photosynthesis, which are solar energy and water. Both are equally important in order to perform photosynthesis, but they don’t create the majority of the matter in a plant. The carbon dioxide is taken from the atmosphere which has a high concentration of carbon. “During the spring when plants start growing again, concentration drops” (Riebeeck p.5). Plants absorb the carbon dioxide and keep it, in order to grow. Once the carbon dioxide is fixated, glucose is produced and used in the process of cellular respiration.

7.”CO2 is plant food” - While plants do absorb carbon dioxide, too much of it will

The pH of soil is important for the absorption of nutrients into the plant. Of the 17 needed plant nutrients 14 of them are acquired through the soil. Acidity is needed to break down and dissolve these nutrients. The nutrients are able to dissolve into the soil faster when the acid is acting as a solute. Another way the pH affects the soil is by influencing microorganisms. The bacteria is crucial in the growth and development of the plant, the bacteria’s role is to break down and decompose organic matter in the soil. If the pH of the soil is too high the acid will slow down and eventually stop the microorganisms. Most plants ideal pH is between 6-7, slightly acidic. Many plants are outliers and thrive in pH such as carrots and corn, which can withstand pH as low as 5.5. If the pH of the soil is too high for the desired crop farmers can add material such as limestone, and wood ashes to raise the pH to the desired level. The pH of the soil can also be changed naturally through the leaching of calcium, magnesium and sodium by rainwater. Carbon dioxide from rotting organic matter can also increase the pH of the soil. Acids can also be created organically in the form of sulfuric and nitric

Soil respiration is a process which results in the production of carbon dioxide and can be affected by several factors including plant litter and temperature (Biology 208 Lab Manual 2017). With increasing temperatures, the amount of carbon dioxide released during soil respiration will increase (Schlesinger and Andrews 1999). The presence of plant litter in the soil results in increased soil respiration, and results in increased rates of carbon dioxide production (Xiao et al. 2014). This experiment is looking at the effects of temperature and type of plant litter on the rate of soil respiration. For the abiotic factor, we hypothesize that increasing the temperature will positively affect soil respiration rate as it will increase the rate of metabolism of the microorganisms. Soil placed in 30°C chamber will produce more carbon dioxide than the soil placed in the 15°C chamber. For the biotic factor, decreasing the carbon:nitrogen ratio in plant litter will positively affect soil respiration rate by speeding up the rate of decomposition of the plant litter. Therefore, soil with grass will decompose faster and have higher carbon dioxide production than soil with pine needle litter. The interaction between temperature and type of plant litter indicates that soil with grass litter and in a 30°C chamber will have the highest carbon dioxide production.

“Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations have increased by approximately 40% since the start of the Industrial Revolution” (Wilmers et al. 2012). This increase in atmospheric CO₂ is a leading cause and contributor to Earth’s climate change with effects such as: “measurable global heat retention and elevated atmospheric temperatures, partial melting of the polar ice caps, ocean acidification, and a host of other impacts on Earth’s environments” (Wilmers et al. 2012). Earth’s ecosystems are combating this climate change by helping reduce the concentration of CO₂ and “sequestering C” (Carbon) in the atmosphere through “photosynthesis” (Wilmers et al. 2012). “Kelp forests are among

Glomalin is a type of protein that works as a natural glue preventing soil from washing away. The producer of this protein is a type of fungi, which is torn by tillage during plowing. However, research shows that farming without tillage (silvopastoral systems for example) has the opposite effect because it leads to an increase of fungi and glomalin. The fungi carries minerals to the plants in exchange for carbon, which the plant takes from the atmosphere; therefore grazing areas such as rangelands and pasture lands can play an important part in restoring lost carbon soil (Niman, 28-30). Grass is also capable of producing soil carbon. According to the UK Soil Association, “Grass has high root densities, fine root hairs, and high mycorrhizal fungal levels, all of which increase soil aggregation. Animal manures and compost also promote soil carbon, again reinforcing how including animals in farming benefit carbon sequestration” (qtd. in Niman, 31). Niman concludes that while converting grassland to croplands does cause carbon losses, converting cropland into grass results in carbon gains (Niman, 32). In a study by the University of Maryland, field tests on 6 different continents consistently showed that the areas with grazing animals had a greater plant diversity than those without animals. These scientists argue that “the absence of animals rather

How does elevated Tsoil and elevated CO2 affect the physiological responses of shade-tolerant plants is the general research question of these researchers.

Since carbon dioxide (CO2) is also released during respiration, the use of KOH to remove CO2 (forming potassium carbonate) during the process ensured that the measured volume of gas in the respirometer would be due to the consumption of Oxygen. Figure 1 shows that the rate of oxygen consumption (rate of aerobic reaction) of the unboiled germinating seeds was higher (slope = 0.22ml/min) than that for the unboiled peas (slope = 0.05ml/min).

As light intensity increases, the photosynthetic rate of a plant increases as well. However biochemical reaction, in fact, DO have temperature limits because if the temperatures reach a certain degree and overheat, the enzymes will get damaged and/or lost and inevitably die. Therefore, temperatures must be a tolerable limits in order to increase a photosynthetic rate. Photosynthesis at low temperatures actually take CO2

The purpose of the Cell Respiration Comparison was to test the respiration of different types of organisms with different conditions. The importance of testing the respiration was to know in what types conditions the organisms could respire the best. The way that we found out which organism respired the best was by using a Labquest that calculated the respiration rate. When calculating the respiration rate, we found that germinating peas with room temperature respire at a higher rate than germinating peas with a cold temperature. With our findings we can conclude that the temperature affects an organism's respiration

Cellular respiration and photosynthesis are the two most salient cycles that recreate and sustain the energy and life in our biosphere. Though interdependent, and similar in many ways, the two systems possess contradicting aspects as well. For instance, cellular respiration is a catabolic reaction. It breaks apart glucose to make carbon dioxide and water, and in doing so, transforms the energy of glucose into ATP. Thus, the primary source of energy for cellular respiration is glucose. This reaction contradicts with photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is an anabolic reaction that relies on carbon dioxide and water to form glucose and other byproducts. It also uses sunlight as a means of its most prominent energy source.

The crops that make up the largest amount of human and livestock calories are wheat, maize, rice, and soybean (Lobell, Gourdji, 2012). Of those, corn is the only plant that is not a C3 photosynthesis plant. The most inefficient part of C3 plants is the enzyme Rubisco. This is because Rubisco is also responsible for carboxylation and oxygenation (Raines, 2011). Oxygenation is increased with high temperatures and drought. If a C3 photosynthesis plant can find a way to increase the amount of CO2 provided to Rubisco and limit oxygenation it would increase photosynthetic efficiency. Rubisco activase is the enzyme responsible for activating Rubisco and has been shown to be unstable in vitro in temperatures greater

In conclusion to the experiment, it was discovered that all of the substances being tested showed respiration except for the non-germinating peas. The trends in the most of the graphs showed the level of oxygen decreasing while the amount of carbon dioxide increasing. In comparison to the other groups, the overall trend was similar although some groups did not follow the exact protocol. The cold germinating peas inhibited oxygen consumption, however they were still respiring since they had to regain energy from their cold environment. According to The Journal of Research in Science and Teaching, it is important to understand that this photosynthetic process relates to cellular respiration because photosynthesis creates the glucose that is

The significant difference observed in carbon flux rate between acutely exposed cold (5˚C) Hordeum vulgare (barley) and control (21˚C) barley supports our hypothesis, which states that when barley grown at a favorable temperature is acutely exposed to low temperature, the photosynthetic capacity will decrease. Similar results were observed in Garmash (2005) where barley was acutely exposed to 0˚C.

Agriculture is one of the major sector becoming vulnerable to climate-change. Increased incidences of abiotic and biotic stresses are likely to cause serious negative impact on crop production. Abiotic stress is defined as the negative impact of non-living factors on the living organisms in a specific environment. The non-living variable must influence the environment beyond its normal range of variation to adversely affect the performance or individual organism in a significant way. This leads to decrease in the productivity by more than 50% in major crop plants which are growing word wide (Bray et al., 2000). Increased water stress, reduction in rainfall and increased air temperature are the major reasons for yield decline in wheat and paddy crops in many parts of South Asia. The average increase in temperature per decade is measured to be 0.28 ºC over land and 0.12 ºC over ocean and predicted that it is likely to rise further to a maximum of 2.5 ºC by 2050 and 5.8 ºC by 2100 (Jones et al., 1999; Grover et al., 2011). The principal abiotic stresses in India are drought or soil moisture stress, high temperatures, soil salinity/alkalinity, low pH and metal toxicity stresses that affect nearly two-thirds area forming parts of the arid and semi arid eco systems (Grover et al., 2011).