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The largest total biomass per square meter of Earth’s area is in Antarctic krill explosions fueled by nutrient upwelling in the Southern Ocean. It’s more biomas
by freepor 7y ago
The largest total biomass per square meter of Earth’s area is in Antarctic krill explosions fueled by nutrient upwelling in the Southern Ocean. It’s more biomass per cross sectional area than even the land directly under a redwood tree.
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoUnder a redwood? Aren't they coniferous? Means their needles fall, acidify the soil, and essentially sterilize it. Forest floors are notoriously sterile places. Perhaps a jungle, bayou or prairie would be a better comparison?
- homonculus1 7y agoNever change, HN... the biomass over the footprint of a redwood tree is equal to the mass of the tree.
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoBut under the tree? That was the assertion...
- dwaltrip 7y agoThe tree itself is part of the "biomass per cross-sectional area" of the land underneath the tree. Although I wonder how cross-sectional area applies to oceans, as they are more of a 3d phenomenon. Is it the entire column of water?
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoHm. If you say so.
- intrepidhero 7y agoI would read "under the redwood" to include anything in the soil under tree. Redwood have extensive root systems and most tree's root systems exist in symbiosis with bacteria. In addition all the dead plant matter (even coniferous -> acidic) is a massive food source for fungi and insects. "Forest floors are notoriously sterile places" - Not sure where you'd get that idea. In my neck of the woods (pun intended) most forest floors are so covered with ferns and brush you can't go off trail without serious bushwhacking. Older growth, which tend to be more open on the floor, are nevertheless loaded with shade loving plants, fungi, insects, small mammals...
- freepor 7y agoI’m talking about directly under the trunk. So the mass of the entire trunk plus the mass of all the organisms in the soil as far down as you go. The mass in a column of krill (of course over much more vertical distance... miles, not hundreds of feet) is larger.
- BurningFrog 7y ago[adjusts glasses] We don't know about life at depth. As we keep digging, we keep finding life miles down. Deep underground bacteria could be Earth's dominant life form by weight. We just don't know. It's possible that as Earth surface life was wiped out a few times, the "life reservoar" deep underground is what, ever so slowly, repopulated it. Or that's what I heard on some, perhaps not super reputable TV show.