Changes

:It's true in a broader sense. Most of the decomposition directly breaks the tree down into CO2, or into products which are broken down into CO2. The rest of the carbon finds itself in other forms (cell structures of bacteria, and so on), all of which have a final form as CO2. I've got an atmospheric science text book burried somewhere in the house, but I'm sure you can find reputible sources online as well. This fact is the reason that some people jokingly (or half-jokingly) say that we should cut down trees, wrap them in plasic and send them to the bottom of the ocean. This ''would'' have the effect of lowering total CO2 in the atmosphere, but environmentalists would have a hissy fit. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 14:05, 4 October 2008 (EDT)

:It's true in a broader sense. Most of the decomposition directly breaks the tree down into CO2, or into products which are broken down into CO2. The rest of the carbon finds itself in other forms (cell structures of bacteria, and so on), all of which have a final form as CO2. I've got an atmospheric science text book burried somewhere in the house, but I'm sure you can find reputible sources online as well. This fact is the reason that some people jokingly (or half-jokingly) say that we should cut down trees, wrap them in plasic and send them to the bottom of the ocean. This ''would'' have the effect of lowering total CO2 in the atmosphere, but environmentalists would have a hissy fit. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 14:05, 4 October 2008 (EDT)

::Well, if you take the time line out long enough, you're 100% right of course.  But what I'm thinking of are certain forms of soil organic matter that are resistant to breakdown, so they're very long lived.  I'd have to check to see what percentage of the tree's carbon goes into those forms, but some of them can last for several centuries before being turned into CO2.--[[User:Frey|Frey]] 14:31, 4 October 2008 (EDT)

::Well, if you take the time line out long enough, you're 100% right of course.  But what I'm thinking of are certain forms of soil organic matter that are resistant to breakdown, so they're very long lived.  I'd have to check to see what percentage of the tree's carbon goes into those forms, but some of them can last for several centuries before being turned into CO2.--[[User:Frey|Frey]] 14:31, 4 October 2008 (EDT)