Ecosystem Productivity and Carbon Flows: Patterns across Ecosystems

The characterization and understanding of carbon flows in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are topics of paramount importance for several disciplines, such as ecology, biogeochemistry, oceanography, and climatology. Scientists have been studying such flows in many diverse ecosystems for decades, and sufficient information is now available to investigate whether any patterns are evident in how carbon flows in ecosystems and to determine the factors responsible for those patterns. In particular, a wealth of information exists on the movement of carbon through the activity of herbivores and consumers of detritus (i.e., decomposers and detritivores), two of the major agents of carbon flows in ecosystems. This chapter analyzes the transference of carbon through herbivory and decomposition in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, documents the nature and implications of salient patterns, and explains why those patterns emerge.