The Natural Fix?

CARBON MANAGEMENT IN NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS

Ecosystems can be grouped into biomes, which reflect natural geographic differences in soils and climate, and consequently different vegetation types (Woodward et al. 2004). These biomes differ greatly in their capacity to assimilate and store carbon (De Deyn et al. 2008). In addition to the balance between carbon gains through growth and losses through respiration, ecosystem carbon balance is also regulated by several other factors including fire, herbivores, erosion and leaching. This section looks at carbon stores and capacity in each biome as well as at peatlands, coasts and oceans and examines the effects that human activities have on those biomes and their role in the carbon cycle.

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