Biological importance: Carbon forms the backbone for all organic molecules.
Forms available to life: Photosynthetic organisms convert CO2 to organic forms used by consumers.
Reservoirs: Soils, aquatic sediments, oceans, plant and animal biomass, and the atmosphere. The largest reservoir is sedimentary rocks such as limestone, though this pool turns over very slowly.
Key processes: Photosynthesis removes CO2 from the atmosphere is balanced by CO2 released through cellular respiration.
The burning of fossil fuels adds significant amounts of additional CO2.