does a mature rainforest produce more co2 than it uses?

Question

ive have conflicting articles on it.....i thought a for an average tree to live it needs to go through photosynthesis...therefore it needs to use more co2???

Answer 1

it produces more oxygen.

Answer 2

I thought that young trees produced less oxygen but it seems that it is the other way round. But the end result is a balance between CO2 and 02 production, with extra oxygen being produced between 0% and above?

Answer 3

I think it depends on the hours of sunlight. Why? Because, when it's light, the trees eat / photosynthesize (consume co2, produce o2) _and_ breathe (consume o2, produce co2). when it's dark, they obviously cannot photosynthesize, they just breathe. Therefore, if all other conditions are the same, if there are more hours without sunlight than with, as in winter, etc., the trees will produce more co2 than they consume. But the rainforests are in geographic locations where the day and night hourse are pretty well-known, and I think there is plenty of daytime (i.e., sunlight) hours.

Answer 4

A mature forest, defined as being at equilibrium, will balance the requirements for all life.

however this is a dynamic equilibrium and there will be times when more plants die, rot & release CO2 back to air, unless in conditions where it is formed into fossil fuel.

The current problem is more trees are dying than might be expected, so probably exacerbating the greenhouse effect through positive feedback.

Answer 5

the short answer is no - the mature forest is likely near equilibrium for fixing and releasing carbon (this would be the definition of "mature", meaning it's not changing much in biomass one way or another).

The benefit to having the forest (as opposed to pasture, or scrub, the alternative were it removed) is that the forest holds a huge amount of carbon that otherwise would be atmospheric CO2.

Answer 6

his is a very tricky question. With energy from light, green
plants transform carbon dioxide (CO2) and water(H2O) into carbohydrates
(CH2) that plants use for growth, and into oxygen (O2), which is a
byproduct of photosynthesis. A general equation for photosynthesis is:

CO2 + H2O --> CH2O + O2

So plants emit one molecule of oxygen for every molecule of carbon dioxide
they assimilate through photosynthesis.

The tricky part is that plants also respire, that is, they use
carbohydrates (and other plant compounds) to build new cells and to
maintain old cells. The equation for respiration is the opposite of that
for photosynthesis.

In a mature ecosystem, such as a forest, net annual growth is zero.
In other words, the ecosystem consumes as much oxygen through respiration
as the plants produce through photosynthesis. This means that the quick
answer to your question is "none."

In describing these processes, we normally refer to the carbon
balance rather than the oxygen balance, because it is actually the bonds
between carbon molecules that have then energy that fuels biological
systems. There is also far less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than
oxygen. Our atmosphere contains about 20% oxygen, but only 0.04% carbon
dioxide (0.04% = 400 ppm). Thus, if photosynthesis and respiration are out
of balance, it will have a much larger relative effect on the carbon
dioxide concentration than on the oxygen concentration.

Changes in the carbon dioxide composition of our atmosphere arise
from two main causes. People directly add to the atmosphere that through
burning fossil fuels. We also affect gases in the atmosphere by changing
the nature of the landscape, or land uses, such as through harvesting of
forests. When forest lands are cleared by burning, then there is a double
effect of releasing the carbon from plant biomass into the atmosphere and a
reduction in capacity for assimilating carbon dioxide through
photosynthesis.

On a global basis, terrestrial plants fix about 50 x 10(exp)15 g of
carbon. Marine plants fix a similar amount. This sums to a total of 100 x
10(exp)15 g carbon from an atmosphere that holds only 700 x 10(exp)15 g
carbon. Living biomass, mostly wood in forests, contains about 500 x
10(exp)15 g carbon above ground and about 1500 x 10(exp)15 g carbon in the
soil.

If all biological carbon were combusted with oxygen, the
atmospheric carbon dioxide level would nearly triple, whereas the
atmospheric oxygen level would drop less than 0.1%.

Answer 7

Trees use carbon dioxide and emit oxygen..trees and plants of smaller size do grow by photosynthesis must have the sunlight
otherwise photosynthesis wont take place

Answer 8

No. Trees make oxygen from co2. Animals (and cars) make co2 from oxygen. That's why it's important to make sure you grow plenty of trees and other plants. Beautiful thing, symbiosis.

'nuff said?