biomass

Examples of biomass in the following topics:

• Viral Roles in Ecosystems

  • Viruses are immensley important to the turnover of biomass in many ecosystems.
  • Microorganisms constitute more than 90% of the biomass in the sea.
  • It is estimated that viruses kill approximately 20% of this biomass each day, and that there are 15 times as many viruses in the oceans as there are bacteria and archaea.

• Hyperthermophiles from Submarine Volcanic Habitats

  • Hyperthermophiles live in dark regions of the oceans and use chemosynthesis to produce biomass from single carbon molecules.
  • Many microorganisms in dark regions of the oceans also use chemosynthesis to produce biomass from single carbon molecules.
  • In the rare sites at which hydrogen molecules (H2) are available, the energy available from the reaction between CO2 and H2 (leading to production of methane, CH4) can be large enough to drive the production of biomass.

• Units of Measurement for Microbes

  • This is especially important for biomass studies where the units of measurement are in units like picog, 10-12 of a kilogram (Kg), nanogram 10-9 of a Kg, and microgram, 10-6 of a Kg (a kilogram is a little over 2 pounds).
  • The measurement of an exponential microbial growth curve in batch culture was traditionally a part of the training of all microbiologists; The basic means requires bacterial enumeration (cell counting) by direct and individual (microscopic, flow cytometry), direct and bulk (biomass), indirect and individual (colony counting), or indirect and bulk (most probable number, turbidity, nutrient uptake) methods .

• Syntrophy and Methanogenesis

  • Methanogenic bacteria are important in the decomposition of biomass in most ecosystems.

• Viral Genomes in Nature

  • Microorganisms constitute more than 90% of the biomass in the sea.
  • It is estimated that viruses kill approximately 20% of this biomass each day and that there are 15 times as many viruses in the oceans as there are bacteria and archaea.

• Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

  • PAHs occur in oil, coal, and tar deposits, and are produced as byproducts of fuel burning (whether fossil fuel or biomass).
  • The heavy metals in the harvested biomass may be further concentrated by incineration or recycled for industrial use.

• Planktonic Food Webs

  • Primarily by grazing on phytoplankton, zooplankton provide carbon to the planktic foodweb, either respiring it to provide metabolic energy, or upon death as biomass or detritus.

• Environmental Diversity of Microbes

  • Interfering with natural microbial biomass disrupts the balance of nature and the ecosystem and leads to loss of biodiversity.

• Koch and Pure Culture

  • Upon incubation, colonies will arise and single cells will have been isolated from the biomass.

• Bacterial Differentiation

  • In addition, the filamentation may allow bacterial cells to access nutrients by enhancing the possibility that the filament will be exposed to a nutrient-rich zone and pass compounds to the rest of the cell's biomass.