Measuring and estimating biomass.

First of all, biomass is the total weight of living matter, measured in dry weight. The importance of biomass comes from the fact that it includes all the organic matter in an ecosystem, and that's why it's important to have it measured or estimated. To do this, there are some methods:


One of the methods is simply counting the number of organisms of a single species in the ecosystems and then measuring the dry weight of a single organism. This method may be very long, and can be inaccurate if the area is not covered correctly.


Another method is monitoring soil with electronic devices. These devices can be left unattended while they collect data, and can be left away from laboratory conditions.


In the case of insects, they can be collected with methods like hand held sweep nets, sticky traps and light traps. These insects can then be monitored with the use of radars. This method can be very destructive so it has been replaced by other methods.


One of these newer methods is satellite monitoring. The MODIS Rapid Response System was developed to provide daily satellite images of the Earth's landmasses in near real time. Here's a very simple example of how biomass can be estimated with satellite monitoring:

This MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) map above shows the density of plant growth over the entire globe. Very low values of EVI (white and brown areas) correspond to barren areas of rock, sand, or snow. Moderate values (light greens) represent shrub and grassland, while high values indicate temperate and tropical rainforests (dark greens).

Satellite systems can also be used in animal tracking. This new method allows the animal's location to be plotted against a map or chart and localizing an entire population to be measured.

These are only a few ways for estimating biomass. Equations and other methods can also determine biomass density in an area.