How Microbes Move Carbon Through Earth

Microbes move carbon through Earth’s major reservoirs and help drive the carbon cycle. Carbon shifts among the biosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere, where it supports life and helps regulate climate. It commonly cycles as carbon dioxide (CO2), the oxidized form of carbon, but methane (CH4) and organic compound...

The carbon cycle describes the movement of carbon through Earth's biotic and abiotic components.

Carbon exists in oxidized forms, such as carbon dioxide, and in reduced forms, such as methane and organic matter, for example, plant litter.

Photosynthetic microbes, like cyanobacteria in aquatic habitats, absorb carbon dioxide under aer...