The biomass
is the total weight of
living organisms or total weight of
dry organic
matter or stored
energy
content of one or more
living organisms that is present at a specific time in a
defined unit of the Earth's surface (species biomass), or
of all the
species in the
community
(community biomass), or of all
organic
matter in a given
ecosystem
(ecosystem biomass), or the total mass of living
organisms in a given volume or mass of
soil (soil
biomass) or also the total mass of
microorganism in in a given volume or mass of
soil
(microbial biomass).
In a more general definition the biomass is any
material,
excluding fossil
fuels, that was or is a
living organism
living organisms, usually expressed in weight per unit area
or as the carbon,
nitrogen,
or caloric content per unit area.
It includes
forest and mill residues, agricultural
crops and
wastes, wood
and wood wastes, animal wastes, livestock operation residues,
aquatic plants, fast-growing trees and plants, soil and aquatic
microorganism and municipal and industrial wastes. |
|
