Summary
Contents
Subject index
This unique addition to reference literature provides an introduction to the major concepts and contemporary issues that are essential for students of environmental science and environmental studies to know. With over 200 entries authored by world-class names like Anthony Brazel, John Day and Edward Keller, this text is divided into six sections: Environmental Science, Environments, Paradigms & Concepts, Processes & Dynamics, Scales & Techniques, and Environmental Issues.
Biomass
Biomass
Biomass is a measure of the amount of organic matter on Earth or some part of it. Biomass can be expressed as the total amount of organic matter of a resource, or more commonly on a unit area basis. For example, one can talk of the total forest biomass of the Earth or the Brazilian rainforest in metric tonnes. But biomass are normally given per unit area, such as gm−2, Kgha−1, or tonnes km−2. Biomass is dramatically different for different ecosystems (Table 24). For example, the biomass of tropical rainforests averages about 45 kgm−2, while that of a temperate grassland is about 1.6 kgm−2, that of a salt marsh is about 2.5 kgm−2, and that of open ocean surface waters is 0.003 kgm−2. This great ...
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