Carbon cycling on land. This largely consists of plants photosynthesising carbon to remove it from the atmosphere. Terrestrial carbon is then stored in plant mass, and it moves to soil via leaf litter and roots. The activity of organisms in the soil then respire, cycling the carbon back to the atmosphere alongside carbon respired by plants.

Approximately seventy-five percent of terrestrial carbon is temporarily stored underground, with mycorrhizal fungi providing key entry points forcarbon to enter soil food webs. Current estimates state that each year, up to thirteen billion tons of CO₂ (carbon dioxide) pass through plants into mycorrhizal fungi and belowground mycelium. This equates to a third or more of annual CO₂fossil fuel emissions.