Water is returned into the air by evaporation and transpiration . The carbon cycle is the engine that drives all life. We are, after all, carbon-based organisms just like the huge trees at Olympic. The vast photosynthetic forests of trapped carbon tower over mountainsides. Carbon alternates from the atmosphere into plants and animals, then back into the air.
Carbon returns to the atmosphere by respiration and also by fire.
Each time you breathe out, you return carbon to the air in the form of carbon dioxide. One less noticeable cycle is the nitrogen cycle . The nitrogen cycle is one cycle that is entirely dependent on microorganisms. Measuring Efficiency Ecosystems that have been around for awhile develop extremely efficient processes. Very little energy and nutrients are wasted.