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Biological carbon fixation, or сarbon assimilation, is the process by which living organisms convert inorganic carbon (particularly carbon dioxide, CO 2) to organic compounds. These organic compounds are then used to store energy and as structures for other biomolecules. Carbon is primarily fixed through photosynthesis, but some organisms use ...
Soil microbes decompose it through enzymatic biochemical processes, obtain the necessary energy from the same matter, and produce the mineral compounds that plant roots are apt to absorb. [12] The decomposition of organic compounds specifically into mineral, i. e., inorganic, compounds is denominated "mineralization".
The decomposition of food, either plant or animal, called spoilage in this context, is an important field of study within food science. Food decomposition can be slowed down by conservation . The spoilage of meat occurs, if the meat is untreated, in a matter of hours or days and results in the meat becoming unappetizing, poisonous or infectious.
Venenivibrio stagnispumantis gains energy by oxidizing hydrogen gas.. In biochemistry, chemosynthesis is the biological conversion of one or more carbon-containing molecules (usually carbon dioxide or methane) and nutrients into organic matter using the oxidation of inorganic compounds (e.g., hydrogen gas, hydrogen sulfide) or ferrous ions as a source of energy, rather than sunlight, as in ...
Carbon is stored in the soil as organic matter and is respired by plants, bacteria, fungi and animals. When this respiration occurs below ground, it is considered soil respiration. Temperature, soil moisture and nitrogen all regulate the rate of this conversion from carbon in soil organic compounds to CO 2. Many methods are used to measure soil ...
Some lithotrophs produce organic compounds from carbon dioxide in a process called chemosynthesis, much as plants do in photosynthesis. Plants use energy from sunlight to drive carbon dioxide fixation, but chemosynthesis can take place in the absence of sunlight (e.g., around a hydrothermal vent).
Plants produce organic acids that increase weathering. These acids are secreted by root and mycorrhizal fungi , as well as microbial plant decay . Root respiration and oxidation of organic soil matter also produce carbon dioxide , which is converted to carbonic acid , which increases weathering.
In terrestrial ecosystems detritus is present as plant litter and other organic matter that is intermixed with soil, known as soil organic matter. The detritus of aquatic ecosystems is organic substances suspended in the water and accumulated in depositions on the floor of the body of water ; when this floor is a seabed , such a deposition is ...