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Is The Terrestrial Biosphere?

Decent Essays

Abstract
The terrestrial biosphere has an important role in the carbon cycle (Schimel, 1995); the one third of the total CO2 that comes from human activity in the atmosphere is absorbed by the terrestrial carbon sink (IPCC, 2013). The Kyoto Protocol included the last years the terrestrial carbon sources and sinks into emissions reduction because is that part of the global C cycle which can most directly be managed (IGBP Terrestrial Carbon Working Group, 1998).
In this essay is analyzed in an overall context the terrestrial carbon cycle and the factors that affect it, the factors include the land and land use change, CO2 and Nitrogen fertilization, climate and climate change and soils, and to highlight the importance of preventing the terrestrial sink to become terrestrial source.
1. Introduction
Managing the terrestrial C cycle is one of the major problems that monopolize the interest of the scientific community for the last years. Estimating the size of carbon sinks or sources, it is not only scientifically important but also attracts the public interest since it is related to Kyoto Protocol which aims to reduce the fossil fuel emissions in the atmosphere (Fang et al., 2007). The global carbon cycle has significantly altered since the industrial era (Churkina, 2013) and the C02 concentrations from 1750 since 2011 show an increase of 112.5 ppm. The land use change emissions and the fossil fuel emissions, which are caused due to human activity, increased the atmospheric CO2

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