Research Article

The biomass distribution on Earth

Yinon M. Bar-On, Rob Phillips, and Ron Milo
PNAS June 19, 2018 115 (25) 6506-6511; first published May 21, 2018; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1711842115

  1. Edited by Paul G. Falkowski, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, and approved April 13, 2018 (received for review July 3, 2017)

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Figures

  • Fig. 1.
    Fig. 1.

    Graphical representation of the global biomass distribution by taxa. (A) Absolute biomasses of different taxa are represented using a Voronoi diagram, with the area of each cell being proportional to that taxa global biomass (the specific shape of each polygon carries no meaning). This type of visualization is similar to pie charts but has a much higher dynamic range (a comparison is shown in SI Appendix, Fig. S4). Values are based on the estimates presented in Table 1 and detailed in the SI Appendix. A visual depiction without components with very slow metabolic activity, such as plant stems and tree trunks, is shown in SI Appendix, Fig. S1. (B) Absolute biomass of different animal taxa. Related groups such as vertebrates are located next to each other. We estimate that the contribution of reptiles and amphibians to the total animal biomass is negligible, as we discuss in the SI Appendix. Visualization performed using the online tool at bionic-vis.biologie.uni-greifswald.de/.

  • Fig. 2.
    Fig. 2.

    Biomass distributions across different environments and trophic modes. (A) Absolute biomass is represented using a Voronoi diagram, with the area of each cell being proportional to the global biomass at each environment. Values are based on SI Appendix, Table S23. We define deep subsurface as the marine subseafloor sediment and the oceanic crust, as well as the terrestrial substratum deeper than 8 m, excluding soil (6). (B) Fraction of the biomass of each kingdom concentrated in the terrestrial, marine, or deep subsurface environment. For fungi and protists, we did not estimate the biomass present in the deep subsurface due to data scarcity. (C) Distribution of biomass between producers (autotrophs, mostly photosynthetic) and consumers (heterotrophs without deep subsurface) in the terrestrial and marine environments. The size of the bars corresponds to the quantity of biomass of each trophic mode. Numbers are in gigatons of carbon.

  • Fig. 3.
    Fig. 3.

    General framework for estimating global biomass. The procedure begins with local samples of biomass across the globe. The more representative the samples are of the natural distribution of the taxon biomass, the more accurate the estimate will be. To move from local samples to a global estimate, a correlation between local biomass densities and an environmental parameter (or parameters) is established. Based on this correlation, in addition to our knowledge of the distribution of the environmental parameter, we extrapolate the biomass across the entire globe. The resolution of the resulting biomass distribution map is dependent on the resolution at which we know the environmental parameter. Integrating across the entire surface of the Earth, we get a global estimate of the biomass of the taxon.

Tables

  • Table 1.

    Summary of estimated total biomass for abundant taxonomic groups

    TaxonMass (Gt C)Uncertainty (-fold)
    Plants4501.2
    Bacteria7010
    Fungi123
    Archaea713
    Protists44
    Animals25
     Arthropods, terrestrial0.2
     Arthropods, marine1
     Chordates, fish0.7
     Chordates, livestock0.1
     Chordates, humans0.06
     Chordates, wild mammals0.007
     Chordates, wild birds0.002
     Annelids0.2
     Molluscs0.2
     Cnidarians0.1
     Nematodes0.02
    Viruses0.220
    Total5501.7

    • Values are based on an extensive literature survey and data integration as detailed in the SI Appendix. Reported values have been rounded to reflect the associated level of uncertainty. We report an uncertainty projection for each kingdom as a fold-change factor from the mean, representing a range akin to a 95% confidence interval of the estimate. The procedure for deriving these projections is documented in detail in Materials and Methods and SI Appendix.

Data supplements

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The biomass distribution on Earth
Yinon M. Bar-On, Rob Phillips, Ron Milo
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Jun 2018, 115 (25) 6506-6511; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1711842115
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