Carbon is a component of nearly all biological molecules. Organisms obtain carbon from their environment. Plants get carbon through photosynthesis, while animals get carbon by eating plants or by eating organisms that ate plants. Fungi use a different process called fermentation that does not use oxygen to release energy. During both cellular respiration and fermentation, energy is released when the chemical bonds that hold the food molecules together are broken. This constant cycling of carbon through organisms to the atmosphere and back again is the carbon cycle.

In our experiments we are investigating the cycling of carbon in the environment and the importance of carbon for living organisms by working with baking yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).

We conducted several experiments:

Ø Experiment 1_ The effect of different food sources on the rate of fermentation in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)

Ø Experiment 2_The effect of table sugar (sucrose) amount on the rate of fermentation in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Comparing yeast growth at various sugar concentrations.

Ø Experiment 3_The effect of sugar type on the rate of fermentation in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)

Finally, our students took a deep dive into the topic of carbon cycle and designed their own imaginary ecosystem in which they were tracing the carbon cycling.