= Carbon sink
A <carbon sink> takes up more <carbon> than it releases over a specified interval. It is a statement about a net transfer, whereas <carbon storage> describes an amount already held. If a reservoir's <carbon> stock is $C$, its balance is
$$
\frac{dC}{dt}=F_{\mathrm{in}}-F_{\mathrm{out}}.
$$
A positive balance makes it a <carbon sink> relative to the stated boundary. A large, nearly unchanged stock can provide substantial <carbon storage> without acting as a strong current <carbon sink>.
<Forests> acquire <carbon> through <photosynthesis> and lose it through <cellular respiration>, decay, fire and removal of <biomass>. Forest inventories and long-term <ecosystem> measurements therefore have to account for both accumulation and losses: the <carbon sink> in growing <forests> is not automatically the net effect of all changes in forested land.<A large and persistent carbon sink in the world's forests by Yude Pan and others>[Science 333, pp. 988–993; separate forest uptake, regrowth and land-use-change emissions for 1990–2007]{ref}
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