Ecosystem respiration is the sum of all respiration

Carbon respiration

Carbon respiration is a phrase used in combination with carbon storage to calculate the amount of carbon flux occurring in the atmosphere through the various processes that add and subtract atmospheric carbon...

 occurring by the living organisms in a specific ecosystem

Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....

.

Ecosystem respiration is typically measured in the natural environment, such as a forest or grassland field, rather than in the laboratory. Ecosystem respiration is the production portion of carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

 in an ecosystem's carbon flux, while photosynthesis

Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is a chemical process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of bacteria, but not in archaea. Photosynthetic organisms are called photoautotrophs, since they can...

 typically accounts for the majority of the ecosystem's carbon consumption.

See also

• Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere
• Ecosystem ecology
  Ecosystem ecology
  Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework. This science examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their components such as chemicals, bedrock, soil, plants, and animals.Ecosystem ecology...
  
  
• Eddy covariance
  Eddy covariance
  The eddy covariance technique is a key atmospheric flux measurement technique to measure and calculate vertical turbulent fluxes within atmospheric boundary layers...
  
   flux (eddy correlation, eddy flux)
• Flux
  Flux
  In the various subfields of physics, there exist two common usages of the term flux, both with rigorous mathematical frameworks.* In the study of transport phenomena , flux is defined as flow per unit area, where flow is the movement of some quantity per time...
  
  
• Biogeochemistry
  Biogeochemistry
  Biogeochemistry is the scientific discipline that involves the study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment...