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75-484: The name refers to a higher sanded (Hooge Sandt) place in the peatlands cut through when the Winschoterdiep channel was dug. Near this channel in 1618 the town was founded. In the beginning the town was a center of peat briquettes producing. When the peat ran out opened factories for cardboard and plants for potato processing . At the moment Hoogezand is most known for the shipbuilding industry. On

150-493: A few micrometers in diameter in the case of protistan microzooplankton to macroscopic gelatinous and crustacean zooplankton . Zooplankton comprise the second level in the food chain, and includes small crustaceans , such as copepods and krill , and the larva of fish, squid, lobsters and crabs. In turn, small zooplankton are consumed by both larger predatory zooplankters, such as krill , and by forage fish , which are small, schooling, filter-feeding fish. This makes up

225-547: A food chain with only three or four trophic levels. Marine environments can have inverted biomass pyramids. In particular, the biomass of consumers (copepods, krill, shrimp, forage fish) is larger than the biomass of primary producers. This happens because the ocean's primary producers are tiny phytoplankton which are r-strategists that grow and reproduce rapidly, so a small mass can have a fast rate of primary production. In contrast, terrestrial primary producers, such as forests, are K-strategists that grow and reproduce slowly, so

300-506: A form of erosion that occur at the sides of gullies that cut into the peat; they sometimes also occur in isolation. Hags may result when flowing water cuts downwards into the peat and when fire or overgrazing exposes the peat surface. Once the peat is exposed in these ways, it is prone to further erosion by wind, water and livestock. The result is overhanging vegetation and peat. Hags are too steep and unstable for vegetation to establish itself, so they continue to erode unless restorative action

375-457: A much higher biomass than the animals that consume them , such as deer, zebras and insects. The level with the least biomass are the highest predators in the food chain , such as foxes and eagles. In a temperate grassland, grasses and other plants are the primary producers at the bottom of the pyramid. Then come the primary consumers, such as grasshoppers, voles and bison, followed by the secondary consumers, shrews, hawks and small cats. Finally

450-407: A much larger mass is needed to achieve the same rate of primary production. Among the phytoplankton at the base of the marine food web are members from a phylum of bacteria called cyanobacteria . Marine cyanobacteria include the smallest known photosynthetic organisms. The smallest of all, Prochlorococcus , is just 0.5 to 0.8 micrometres across. In terms of individual numbers, Prochlorococcus

525-447: A possible approximation of global biodiversity , is estimated at (5.3 ± 3.6) × 10 , and weighs 50 billion tonnes . Anthropogenic mass (human-made material) is expected to exceed all living biomass on earth at around the year 2020. An ecological pyramid is a graphical representation that shows, for a given ecosystem , the relationship between biomass or biological productivity and trophic levels . An ecological pyramid provides

600-496: A result of peat drainage, the organic carbon—which built over thousands of years and is normally underwater—is suddenly exposed to the air. It decomposes and turns into carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), which is released into the atmosphere. The global CO 2 emissions from drained peatlands have increased from 1,058 Mton in 1990 to 1,298 Mton in 2008 (a 20% increase). This increase has particularly taken place in developing countries, of which Indonesia , Malaysia and Papua New Guinea are

675-490: A reversal of terrestrial biomass, can increase at higher trophic levels. In the ocean, the food chain typically starts with phytoplankton, and follows the course: Phytoplankton → zooplankton → predatory zooplankton → filter feeders → predatory fish Phytoplankton are the main primary producers at the bottom of the marine food chain . Phytoplankton use photosynthesis to convert inorganic carbon into protoplasm . They are then consumed by zooplankton that range in size from

750-490: A small increase in carbon dioxide uptake, meaning that it contributes to the permafrost carbon feedback . Under 2 °C global warming , 0.7 million km of peatland permafrost could thaw, and with warming of +1.5 to 6 °C a cumulative 0.7 to 3 PgC of methane could be released as a result of permafrost peatland thaw by 2100. The forcing from these potential emissions would be approximately equivalent to 1% of projected anthropogenic emissions. One characteristic of peat

825-404: A snapshot in time of an ecological community . The bottom of the pyramid represents the primary producers ( autotrophs ). The primary producers take energy from the environment in the form of sunlight or inorganic chemicals and use it to create energy-rich molecules such as carbohydrates. This mechanism is called primary production . The pyramid then proceeds through the various trophic levels to

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900-539: A tenth of the total permafrost area, and also a tenth (185 ± 66 Gt) of all permafrost carbon, equivalent to around half of the carbon stored in the atmosphere. Dry peat is a good insulator (with a thermal conductivity of around 0.25 Wm K ) and therefore plays an important role in protecting permafrost from thaw. The insulating effect of dry peat also makes it integral to unique permafrost landforms such as palsas and permafrost peat plateaus. Peatland permafrost thaw tends to result in an increase in methane emissions and

975-413: Is a common practice to forest used peat bogs instead of giving them a chance to renew. This leads to lower levels of CO 2 storage than the original peat bog. Biomass (ecology) Biomass is the mass of living biological organisms in a given area or ecosystem at a given time. Biomass can refer to species biomass , which is the mass of one or more species, or to community biomass , which

1050-508: Is about 1,000 times more plant biomass ( phytomass ) than animal biomass ( zoomass ). About 18% of this plant biomass is eaten by the land animals. However, marine animals eat most of the marine autotrophs , and the biomass of marine animals is greater than that of marine autotrophs. According to a 2020 study published in Nature , human-made materials, or anthropogenic mass, outweigh all living biomass on earth, with plastic alone exceeding

1125-487: Is also reported that peat regrowth takes place only in 30–40% of peatlands. Centuries of burning and draining of peat by humans has released a significant amount of CO 2 into the atmosphere, and much peatland restoration is needed to help limit climate change . Peat forms when plant material does not fully decay in acidic and anaerobic conditions. It is composed mainly of wetland vegetation: principally bog plants including mosses , sedges and shrubs. As it accumulates,

1200-477: Is available in considerable quantities. It is burned to produce heat and electricity . Peat provides around 4% of Finland's annual energy production. Also, agricultural and forestry-drained peat bogs actively release more CO 2 annually than is released in peat energy production in Finland. The average regrowth rate of a single peat bog, however, is indeed slow, from 1,000 up to 5,000 years. Furthermore, it

1275-551: Is cut by hand and left to dry in the sun. In many countries, including Ireland and Scotland , peat was traditionally stacked to dry in rural areas and used for cooking and domestic heating. This tradition can be traced back to the Roman period. For industrial uses, companies may use pressure to extract water from the peat, which is soft and easily compressed. In Sweden, farmers use dried peat to absorb excrement from cattle that are wintered indoors. The most essential property of peat

1350-423: Is either fibric, hemic, or sapric. Fibric peats are the least decomposed and consist of intact fibre. Hemic peats are partially decomposed and sapric are the most decomposed. Phragmites peat are composed of reed grass, Phragmites australis , and other grasses. It is denser than many other types of peat. Engineers may describe a soil as peat which has a relatively high percentage of organic material. This soil

1425-712: Is estimated that in 1997, peat and forest fires in Indonesia released between 0.81 and 2.57 gigatonnes (0.89 and 2.83 billion short tons; 0.80 and 2.53 billion long tons) of carbon; equivalent to 13–40 percent of the amount released by global fossil fuel burning, and greater than the carbon uptake of the world's biosphere. These fires may be responsible for the acceleration in the increase in carbon dioxide levels since 1998. More than 100 peat fires in Kalimantan and East Sumatra have continued to burn since 1997; each year, these peat fires ignite new forest fires above

1500-491: Is possibly the most plentiful species on Earth: a single millilitre of surface seawater can contain 100,000 cells or more. Worldwide, there are estimated to be several octillion (10 ) individuals. Prochlorococcus is ubiquitous between 40°N and 40°S and dominates in the oligotrophic (nutrient poor) regions of the oceans. The bacterium accounts for an estimated 20% of the oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere , and forms part of

1575-464: Is present. In 2018, Bar-On et al. estimated the total live biomass on Earth at about 550 billion (5.5×10 ) tonnes C, most of it in plants. In 1998 Field et.al. estimated the total annual net primary production of biomass at just over 100 billion tonnes C/yr. The total live biomass of bacteria was once thought to be about the same as plants, but recent studies suggest it is significantly less. The total number of DNA base pairs on Earth, as

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1650-483: Is problematic because it exhibits poor consolidation properties—it cannot be easily compacted to serve as a stable foundation to support loads, such as roads or buildings. In a widely cited article, Joosten and Clarke (2002) described peatlands or mires (which they say are the same) as the most widespread of all wetland types in the world, representing 50 to 70% of global wetlands. They cover over 4 million square kilometres [1.5 million square miles] or 3% of

1725-506: Is retaining moisture in container soil when it is dry while preventing the excess water from killing roots when it is wet. Peat can store nutrients although it is not fertile itself—it is polyelectrolytic with a high ion-exchange capacity due to its oxidized lignin. Peat is discouraged as a soil amendment by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , England, since 2003. While bark or coir -based peat-free potting soil mixes are on

1800-501: Is similar to the biomass of carbon in all plants. The vast majority of bacteria and archaea were estimated to be in sediments deep below the seafloor or in the deep terrestrial biosphere (in deep continental aquifers). However, updated measurements reported in a 2012 study reduced the calculated prokaryotic biomass in deep subseafloor sediments from the original ≈300 billion tonnes C to ≈4 billion tonnes C (range 1.5–22 billion tonnes). This update originates from much lower estimates of both

1875-635: Is sometimes used in freshwater aquaria . It is seen most commonly in soft water or blackwater river systems such as those mimicking the Amazon River basin. In addition to being soft and therefore suitable for demersal (bottom-dwelling) species such as Corydoras catfish, peat is reported to have many other beneficial functions in freshwater aquaria. It softens water by acting as an ion exchanger ; it also contains substances that are beneficial for plants and fishes' reproductive health. Peat can prevent algae growth and kill microorganisms. Peat often stains

1950-769: Is taken. In June 2002, the United Nations Development Programme launched the Wetlands Ecosystem and Tropical Peat Swamp Forest Rehabilitation Project. This project was targeted to last for five years, and brings together the efforts of various non-government organisations. In November 2002, the International Peatland (formerly Peat) Society (IPS) and the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG) published guidelines on

2025-565: Is the average depth of the boreal [northern] peatlands", which store around 415 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon (about 46 times 2019 global CO 2 emissions). Globally, peat stores up to 550 Gt of carbon, 42% of all soil carbon , which exceeds the carbon stored in all other vegetation types, including the world's forests, although it covers just 3% of the land's surface. Peat is not a renewable source of energy , due to its extraction rate in industrialized countries far exceeding its slow regrowth rate of 1 mm (0.04 in) per year, and as it

2100-401: Is the bioaccumulation of metals concentrated in the peat. Accumulated mercury is of significant environmental concern. Large areas of organic wetland (peat) soils are currently drained for agriculture, forestry and peat extraction (i.e. through canals ). This process is taking place all over the world. This not only destroys the habitat of many species but also heavily fuels climate change. As

2175-435: Is the mass of all species in the community. It can include microorganisms , plants or animals. The mass can be expressed as the average mass per unit area, or as the total mass in the community. How biomass is measured depends on why it is being measured. Sometimes, the biomass is regarded as the natural mass of organisms in situ , just as they are. For example, in a salmon fishery , the salmon biomass might be regarded as

2250-407: Is the most efficient carbon sink on the planet , because peatland plants capture carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) naturally released from the peat, maintaining an equilibrium. In natural peatlands, the "annual rate of biomass production is greater than the rate of decomposition", but it takes "thousands of years for peatlands to develop the deposits of 1.5 to 2.3 m [4.9 to 7.5 ft], which

2325-496: Is unique to natural areas called peatlands , bogs , mires , moors , or muskegs . Sphagnum moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most common components in peat, although many other plants can contribute. The biological features of sphagnum mosses act to create a habitat aiding peat formation, a phenomenon termed 'habitat manipulation'. Soils consisting primarily of peat are known as histosols . Peat forms in wetland conditions, where flooding or stagnant water obstructs

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2400-456: The "Wise Use of Mires and Peatlands – Backgrounds and Principles including a framework for decision-making" . This publication aims to develop mechanisms that can balance the conflicting demands on the global peatland heritage to ensure its wise use to meet the needs of humankind. In June 2008, the IPS published the book Peatlands and Climate Change , summarising the currently available knowledge on

2475-819: The Falkland Islands and Indonesia ( Kalimantan [Sungai Putri, Danau Siawan, Sungai Tolak], Rasau Jaya ( West Kalimantan ) and Sumatra ). Indonesia has more tropical peatlands and mangrove forests than any other nation on earth, but Indonesia is losing wetlands by 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) per year. A catalog of the peat research collection at the University of Minnesota Duluth provides references to research on worldwide peat and peatlands. About 7% of all peatlands have been exploited for agriculture and forestry . Under certain conditions, peat will turn into lignite coal over geologic periods of time. Peat can be used as fuel once dried. Traditionally, peat

2550-996: The West Siberian Lowland , the Hudson Bay Lowlands and the Mackenzie River Valley. There is less peat in the Southern Hemisphere, in part because there is less land. The world's largest tropical peatland is located in Africa (the Democratic Republic of Congo). In addition, the vast Magellanic Moorland in South America (Southern Patagonia / Tierra del Fuego ) is an extensive peat-dominated landscape. Peat can be found in New Zealand , Kerguelen ,

2625-665: The apex predators at the top. When energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next, typically only ten percent is used to build new biomass. The remaining ninety percent goes to metabolic processes or is dissipated as heat. This energy loss means that productivity pyramids are never inverted, and generally limits food chains to about six levels. However, in oceans, biomass pyramids can be wholly or partially inverted, with more biomass at higher levels. Terrestrial biomass generally decreases markedly at each higher trophic level (plants, herbivores, carnivores). Examples of terrestrial producers are grasses, trees and shrubs. These have

2700-479: The shipyards the vessels are launched sideways, which is uncommon for slipways . In 1821 Hoogezand absorbed former municipality Windeweer . In 1949 Hoogezand and Sappemeer became one city. At the moment Hoogezand-Sappemeer has 34,438 citizens (2005), around 21,000 of them live in Hoogezand. In 2018, the municipality of Hoogezand-Sappemeer merged with the municipalities of Slochteren and Menterwolde to form

2775-597: The tanning properties of the acidic water, as well as by the antibiotic properties of the organic component sphagnan. A famous example is the Tollund Man in Denmark. Having been discovered in 1950 after being mistaken for a recent murder victim, he was exhumed for scientific purposes and dated to have lived during the 4th century BC. Before that, another bog body, the Elling Woman , had been discovered in 1938 in

2850-415: The topsoil . Land mammals account for about 180 million tonnes C, most of which are humans (about 80 million tonnes C) and domesticated mammals (about 90 million tonnes C). Wild terrestrial mammals account for only about 3 million tonnes C, less than 2% of the total mammalian biomass on land. Most of the global biomass is found on land, with only 5 to 10 billion tonnes C found in the oceans. On land, there

2925-539: The May 2018 PNAS article revised their estimate for the global biomass of prokaryotes to ≈30 billion tonnes C, similar to the Deep Carbon Observatory estimate. These estimates convert global abundance of prokaryotes into global biomass using average cellular biomass figures that are based on limited data. Recent estimates used an average cellular biomass of about 20–30 femtogram carbon (fgC) per cell in

3000-548: The West Siberian peatland. Palsa mires have a rich bird life and are an EU-red listed habitat, and in Canada riparian peat banks are used as maternity sites for polar bears. Natural peatlands also have many species of wild orchids and carnivorous plants. For more on biological communities, see wetland , bog or fen . Around half of the area of northern peatlands is permafrost -affected, and this area represents around

3075-598: The base of the ocean food chain . Bacteria and archaea are both classified as prokaryotes , and their biomass is commonly estimated together. The global biomass of prokaryotes is estimated at 30 billion tonnes C, dominated by bacteria. The estimates for the global biomass of prokaryotes had changed significantly over recent decades, as more data became available. A much-cited study from 1998 collected data on abundances (number of cells) of bacteria and archaea in different natural environments, and estimated their total biomass at 350 to 550 billion tonnes C. This vast amount

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3150-404: The biomass of fish in the world are mesopelagic , such as lanternfish, spending most of the day in the deep, dark waters. Marine mammals such as whales and dolphins account for about 0.006 billion tonnes C. Land animals account for about 500 million tonnes C, or about 20% of the biomass of animals on Earth. Terrestrial arthropods account for about 150 million tonnes C, most of which is found in

3225-522: The bogland remains constantly wet which helps promote peat production. Most modern peat bogs formed 12,000 years ago in high latitudes after the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age . Peat usually accumulates slowly at the rate of about a millimetre per year. The estimated carbon content is 415 gigatonnes (457 billion short tons) (northern peatlands), 50 Gt (55 billion short tons) ( tropical peatlands ) and 15 Gt (17 billion short tons) (South America). Peat material

3300-550: The capital of Moscow with a toxic smoke blanket . The situation remained critical until the end of August 2010. In June 2019, despite some forest fire prevention methods being put in place, peat fires in the Arctic emitted 50 megatonnes (55 million short tons; 49 million long tons) of CO 2 , which is equal to Sweden's total annual emissions. The peat fires are linked to climate change, as they are much more likely to occur nowadays due to this effect. Peat "hags" are

3375-428: The concept of peat archives, a phrase coined by influential peatland scientist Harry Godwin in 1981. In a peat profile there is a fossilized record of changes over time in the vegetation, pollen, spores, animals (from microscopic to the giant elk), and archaeological remains that have been deposited in place, as well as pollen, spores and particles brought in by wind and weather. These remains are collectively termed

3450-455: The fastest-growing top emitters. This estimate excludes emissions from peat fires (conservative estimates amount to at least 4,000 Mton/CO 2 -eq./yr for south-east Asia). With 174 Mton/CO 2 -eq./yr, the EU is after Indonesia (500 Mton) and before Russia (161 Mton), the world's second-largest emitter of drainage-related peatland CO 2 (excl. extracted peat and fires). Total CO 2 emissions from

3525-688: The flow of oxygen from the atmosphere, slowing the rate of decomposition. Peat properties such as organic matter content and saturated hydraulic conductivity can exhibit high spatial heterogeneity . Peatlands, particularly bogs , are the primary source of peat; although less common, other wetlands, including fens , pocosins and peat swamp forests , also deposit peat. Landscapes covered in peat are home to specific kinds of plants, including Sphagnum moss, ericaceous shrubs and sedges . Because organic matter accumulates over thousands of years, peat deposits provide records of past vegetation and climate by preserving plant remains, such as pollen. This allows

3600-603: The ground. In North America, peat fires can occur during severe droughts throughout their occurrence, from boreal forests in Canada to swamps and fens in the subtropical southern Florida Everglades . Once a fire has burnt through the area, hollows in the peat are burnt out, and hummocks are desiccated but can contribute to Sphagnum recolonization. In the summer of 2010, an unusually high heat wave of up to 40 °C (104 °F) ignited large deposits of peat in Central Russia, burning thousands of houses and covering

3675-604: The land and freshwater surface of the planet. In these ecosystems are found one third of the world's soil carbon and 10% of global freshwater resources. These ecosystems are characterized by the unique ability to accumulate and store dead organic matter from Sphagnum and many other non-moss species, as peat, under conditions of almost permanent water saturation. Peatlands are adapted to the extreme conditions of high water and low oxygen content, of toxic elements and low availability of plant nutrients. Their water chemistry varies from alkaline to acidic. Peatlands occur on all continents, from

3750-509: The main source of water for large cities, including Dublin. Peat wetlands also used to have a degree of metallurgical importance in the Early Middle Ages , being the primary source of bog iron used to create swords and armour. Many peat swamps along the coast of Malaysia serve as a natural means of flood mitigation, with any overflow being absorbed by the peat, provided forests are still present to prevent peat fires. Peat

3825-538: The mass of all land and marine animals combined. Net primary production is the rate at which new biomass is generated, mainly due to photosynthesis. Global primary production can be estimated from satellite observations. Satellites scan the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) over terrestrial habitats, and scan sea-surface chlorophyll levels over oceans. This results in 56.4 billion tonnes C /yr (53.8%), for terrestrial primary production, and 48.5 billion tonnes C/yr for oceanic primary production. Thus,

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3900-423: The new municipality of Midden-Groningen The Nationaal Bus Museum opened its doors in Hoogezand in 2013. Railway station: Hoogezand-Sappemeer In Western Hoogezand, Martenshoek railway station may be closer. This Groningen location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Peat Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter . It

3975-540: The peat archives. In Quaternary Palaeoecology , first published in 1980, Birks and Birks described how paleoecological studies "of peat can be used to reveal what plant communities were present (locally and regionally), what period each community occupied, how environmental conditions changed, and how the environment affected the ecosystem in that time and place." Scientists continue to compare modern mercury (Hg) accumulation rates in bogs with historical natural archives records in peat bogs and lake sediments to estimate

4050-433: The peat holds water. This slowly creates wetter conditions that allow the area of wetland to expand. Peatland features can include ponds, ridges and raised bogs . The characteristics of some bog plants actively promote bog formation. For example, sphagnum mosses actively secrete tannins , which preserve organic material. Sphagnum also have special water-retaining cells, known as hyaline cells, which can release water ensuring

4125-683: The potential human impacts on the biogeochemical cycle of mercury, for example. Over the years, different dating models and technologies for measuring date sediments and peat profiles accumulated over the last 100–150 years, have been used, including the widely used vertical distribution of 210Pb, the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-SMS), and more recently the initial penetration (IP). Naturally mummified human bodies, often called " bog bodies " have been found in various places in Scotland, England, Ireland, and especially northern Germany and Denmark. They are almost perfectly preserved by

4200-441: The presence of a heat source (e.g., a wildfire penetrating the subsurface), it smoulders. These smouldering fires can burn undetected for very long periods of time (months, years, and even centuries) propagating in a creeping fashion through the underground peat layer. Despite the damage that the burning of raw peat can cause, bogs are naturally subject to wildfires and depend on the wildfires to keep woody competition from lowering

4275-545: The prokaryotic abundance and their average weight. A census published in PNAS in May 2018 estimated global bacterial biomass at ≈70 billion tonnes C, of which ≈60 billion tonnes are in the terrestrial deep subsurface. It also estimated the global biomass of archaea at ≈7 billion tonnes C. A later study by the Deep Carbon Observatory published in 2018 reported a much larger dataset of measurements, and updated

4350-545: The reconstruction of past environments and the study of land-use changes. Peat is used by gardeners and for horticulture in certain parts of the world, but this is being banned in some places. By volume, there are about 4 trillion cubic metres of peat in the world. Over time, the formation of peat is often the first step in the geological formation of fossil fuels such as coal , particularly low-grade coal such as lignite . The peatland ecosystem covers 3.7 million square kilometres (1.4 million square miles) and

4425-614: The rewetting of peatlands and revegetation of native species. This acts to mitigate carbon release in the short term before the new growth of vegetation provides a new source of organic litter to fuel the peat formation in the long term. UNEP is supporting peatland restoration in Indonesia. Latvia has been the biggest exporter of peat in the world by volume, providing more than 19.9% of the world's volume, followed only by Canada with 13% in 2022. In 2020, Latvia exported 1.97 million tons of peat, followed by Germany with 1.5 and Canada with 1.42 million tons. Nevertheless, although first in

4500-625: The rise, particularly in the UK, peat is still used as raw material for horticulture in some other European countries, Canada, as well as parts of the United States. Peatland can also be an essential source of drinking water , providing nearly 4% of all potable water stored in reservoirs . In the UK, 43% of the population receives drinking water sourced from peatlands, with the number climbing to 68% in Ireland. Catchments containing peatlands are

4575-628: The same bog about 60 metres (200 ft) from the Tollund Man. She is believed to have lived during the late 3rd century BC and was a ritual sacrifice. In the Bronze and Iron Ages, people used peat bogs for rituals to nature gods and spirits. The distinctive ecological conditions of peat wetlands provide a habitat for distinctive fauna and flora. For example, whooping cranes nest in North American peatlands, whilst Siberian cranes nest in

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4650-511: The state whilst 23% belong to the municipalities Bogs in Latvia are considered important habitats due to their ecological values, and up to 128,000 hectares, or 40% of the areas in the territory, are protected by environmental laws. The most famous national parks and reserves are the Ķemeri National Park , Cenas tīrelis and Teiči Nature Reserve . The climate, geography and environment of Finland favours bog and peat bog formation. Thus, peat

4725-522: The subsurface and terrestrial habitats. The total global biomass has been estimated at 550 billion tonnes C. A breakdown of the global biomass is given by kingdom in the table below, based on a 2018 study by Bar-On et. al. Animals represent less than 0.5% of the total biomass on Earth, with about 2 billion tonnes C in total. Most animal biomass is found in the oceans, where arthropods , such as copepods , account for about 1 billion tonnes C and fish for another 0.7 billion tonnes C. Roughly half of

4800-507: The tertiary consumers, large cats and wolves. The biomass pyramid decreases markedly at each higher level. Changes in plant species in the terrestrial ecosystem can result in changes in the biomass of soil decomposer communities. Biomass in C 3 and C 4 plant species can change in response to altered concentrations of CO 2 . C 3 plant species have been observed to increase in biomass in response to increasing concentrations of CO 2 of up to 900 ppm. Ocean or marine biomass, in

4875-412: The third level in the food chain. A fourth trophic level can consist of predatory fish, marine mammals and seabirds that consume forage fish. Examples are swordfish , seals and gannets . Apex predators, such as orcas , which can consume seals, and shortfin mako sharks , which can consume swordfish, make up a fifth trophic level. Baleen whales can consume zooplankton and krill directly, leading to

4950-513: The topic. In 2010, IPS presented a " Strategy for Responsible Peatland Management ", which can be applied worldwide for decision-making. Peat extraction is forbidden in Chile since April 2024. Often, restoration is done by blocking drainage channels in the peatland, and allowing natural vegetation to recover. Rehabilitation projects undertaken in North America and Europe usually focus on

5025-421: The total photoautotrophic primary production for the Earth is about 104.9 billion tonnes C/yr. This translates to about 426 gC/m /yr for land production (excluding areas with permanent ice cover), and 140 gC/m /yr for the oceans. However, there is a much more significant difference in standing stocks —while accounting for almost half of total annual production, oceanic autotrophs account for only about 0.2% of

5100-401: The total biomass estimate in the deep terrestrial biosphere. It used this new knowledge and previous estimates to update the global biomass of bacteria and archaea to 23–31 billion tonnes C. Roughly 70% of the global biomass was estimated to be found in the deep subsurface. The estimated number of prokaryotic cells globally was estimated to be 11–15 × 10 . With this information, the authors of

5175-422: The total wet weight the salmon would have if they were taken out of the water. In other contexts, biomass can be measured in terms of the dried organic mass, so perhaps only 30% of the actual weight might count, the rest being water . For other purposes, only biological tissues count, and teeth, bones and shells are excluded. In some applications, biomass is measured as the mass of organically bound carbon (C) that

5250-410: The tropical to boreal and Arctic zones from sea level to high alpine conditions. A more recent estimate from an improved global peatland map, PEATMAP, based on a meta-analysis of geospatial information at global, regional and national levels puts global coverage slightly higher than earlier peatland inventories at 4.23 million square kilometres (1.63 million square miles) approximately 2.84% of

5325-812: The water table and shading out many bog plants. Several families of plants including the carnivorous Sarracenia (trumpet pitcher), Dionaea (Venus flytrap), Utricularia (bladderworts) and non-carnivorous plants such as the sandhills lily , toothache grass and many species of orchid are now threatened and in some cases endangered from the combined forces of human drainage, negligence and absence of fire. The recent burning of peat bogs in Indonesia, with their large and deep growths containing more than 50 billion tonnes (55 billion short tons; 49 billion long tons) of carbon, has contributed to increases in world carbon dioxide levels. Peat deposits in Southeast Asia could be destroyed by 2040. It

5400-770: The water yellow or brown due to the leaching of tannins . Peat is widely used in balneotherapy (the use of bathing to treat disease). Many traditional spa treatments include peat as part of peloids . Such health treatments have an enduring tradition in European countries, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria. Some of these old spas date back to the 18th century and are still active today. The most common types of peat application in balneotherapy are peat muds , poultices and suspension baths . Authors Rydin and Jeglum in Biology of Habitats described

5475-436: The world by volume, in monetary terms, Latvian comes second in the world behind Canada . As an example, Latvia's income from exports was US$ 237 million. Latvia's peat deposits have been estimated to equal 1.7 billion tons. Latvia, as Finland due its climate has several peat bogs, which account for 9.9% of the country's territory. More than two thirds of the licensed areas for peat extraction are state-owned; 55% belong to

5550-479: The world land area. In Europe, peatlands extend to about 515,000 km (199,000 sq mi). About 60% of the world's wetlands are made of peat. Peat deposits are found in many places around the world, including northern Europe and North America. The North American peat deposits are principally found in Canada and the Northern United States. Some of the world's largest peatlands include

5625-466: The worldwide 500,000 km of degraded peatland may exceed 2.0 Gtons (including emissions from peat fires), which is almost 6% of all global carbon emissions. Peat can be a major fire hazard and is not extinguished by light rain. Peat fires may burn for great lengths of time, or smoulder underground and reignite after winter if an oxygen source is present. Peat has a high carbon content and can burn under low moisture conditions. Once ignited by

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