Photosynthesis Primary production processes

The annual primary production of organic carbon through photosynthesis is on the order of 70 Pg/yr. The major part of this carbon is decomposed or respired in a process that also involves the biogeochemical transformation of nitrogen, sulfur, and many other elements. Only a small part of the annual primary production of organic carbon escapes decomposition and is buried in marine sediments. On average. 

Primary production maintains the main carbon flux from the atmosphere to the biota. In the process of photosynthesis, CO2 from the atmosphere is reduced by autotrophic organisms to a wide range of organic substances. The complex biochemistry involved can be represented by the formula... 

Photosynthesis is the largest-scale synthetic process on earth. About 1.06 x 1014 kg (106 billion tons) of carbon are fixed annually into organic compounds by photosynthetic organisms (a quantity often called the net primary productivity). This equals about 1% of the world s known reserves of fossil fuels (coal, gas, and oil), or 10 times the world s current annual... 

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