Abstract
There are four principal reservoirs of regions of the earth through which carbon flows systematically: the atmosphere, the terrestrial biosphere, the oceans, and the geosphere, which include all forms of fossil. Carbon can be transferred between reservoirs and forms a network called the carbon cycle. The burning of fossil fuel, for example, currently generates an amount of CO2 equivalent to 5 gigatons (1015 g = 1 Gt) of carbon annually. This carbon represents an additional transfer from the geosphere to the atmosphere relative to the balanced natural exchange of about 100 Gt C annually between the atmosphere and each of the remaining major carbon reservoirs resulting in a net increase of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere (Blasing TJ. Background: carbon cycle, climate and vegetation response. In: White MR (ed) Characterization of information requirements for studies of CO2 effects: water resources, agricultures, fisheries, forests and human health. United States Department of Energy, Washington, DC, 1985). Similarly, when a forest absorbs CO2, deforestation, especially when the forest is burnt, adds considerable quantities of CO2 to the atmosphere. CO2 is also released when the forest vegetation decays and through the drowning forest. For example, a single dam, reservoir of the Balbina dam in the Brazilian Amazon, will yield as much CO2 as would be produced by a coal-fired plant with a similar generating capacity operating for 100 years (Anon. Rainforest destruction: causes effects and false solutions. World Rainforest Movement, Malaysia, Jutaprint, 1991).
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Ali, M. (2013). Role of Vegetation in Reducing CO2 . In: Climate Change Impacts on Plant Biomass Growth. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5370-9_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5370-9_5
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