Search / resource

Resource: used or used up in processes

Organic carbon

Appears in 27 processs and 68 steps. Everything below is linked: open a process to see it in context.

Top processes

Energy transfer through food webs

6 steps

Herbivory transfers plant energy to primary consumers
Predation transfers energy to higher trophic levels
Trophic transfer efficiency between levels
and 3 more in this process

Respiratory losses and carbon-use efficiency

6 steps

Leaf, wood and root respiration burn fixed carbon
Carbon-use efficiency computed as NPP divided by GPP
Stand age and leaf-to-total mass ratio set CUE
and 3 more in this process

Primary production

5 steps

Autotrophic respiration
Net primary production allocated to leaves, stems and roots
Respiratory losses and carbon-use efficiency
and 2 more in this process

Belowground carbon allocation to roots and mycorrhizal fungi

5 steps

Energy channels in the soil food web

5 steps

Predator control of herbivory (trophic cascade)

4 steps

Spiders reduce grasshopper density
Risk of predation alters grasshopper feeding behavior
Less herbivory leaves more plant biomass
and 1 more in this process

Show 21 more processes

Controls on net primary production

4 steps

Fate of gross primary production
Autotrophic respiration releases carbon to the air
Net primary production retained as new biomass
and 1 more in this process

Trophic efficiency and top-down control

4 steps

Consumers ingest plant or prey tissue
Assimilated into consumer biomass
Predators suppress herbivores and release plant biomass
and 1 more in this process

Biological processes

3 steps

Ocean carbon exchange and burial

3 steps

Soil nitrification, nitrate reduction and nitrogen gas losses

3 steps

Photosynthesis and respiration (biosphere metabolism)

2 steps

Marine biological pump and ocean life

2 steps

Litter quality, climate and fauna control decay

2 steps

Soil state factors and the erosion-formation balance

2 steps

Terrestrial ecosystem functioning

1 step

Energy transfer through food webs

Biodiversity, species interactions and evolution

1 step

Species compete, eat and cooperate, shaping community structure

Nitrogen cycling

1 step

Denitrifiers reduce nitrate to N2O and N2 (denitrification)

Phosphorus cycling

1 step

Phosphorus settles and is buried in ocean and lake sediments

Soil gas exchange and redox

1 step

Denitrification chain in anaerobic microsites

Denitrification chain in anaerobic microsites

1 step

Nitrate reduced to nitrite and nitric oxide

Pedogenesis and soil horizon development

1 step

Gleying under waterlogging reduces iron and leaves grey mottled horizons

Trophic transfer efficiency between levels

1 step

Consumers assimilate part of the energy they eat

Nutrient-driven carbon allocation belowground

1 step

Fine root growth and exudation expand the foraged soil volume

Detrital energy channel

1 step

Dead plant tissue enters the detrital food web

Nitrogen and phosphorus supply and limitation

1 step

Microbes immobilise nitrogen in biomass

Erosion versus soil production balance

1 step

Thinner soil holds less water and supports less plant cover

Often found with

Plants 30 Predators 12 Energy 12 Herbivores 10 Oxygen 9 Carbon dioxide 9 Bacteria 8 Nitrogen 7 Nitrate 6 Fungi 6 Phosphorus 5 Denitrifying bacteria 5

Known by 719 participants and resources across the map.