https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Biomass_v9.png

Some of all you might like this diagram showing how the how much of the biomass is made up of various kinds if critter.

Amphibian and reptiles are omitted for some reason.

maybe they only count monophyletic (true) clades

SCIENCE said:

maybe they only count monophyletic (true) clades

Prrrrrretty sure Amphibia is still a proper clade.

dv said:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Biomass_v9.png

Some of all you might like this diagram showing how the how much of the biomass is made up of various kinds if critter.

Amphibian and reptiles are omitted for some reason.

I will admit surprise that marine Arthropods make up the largest proportion of the animals. Out of sight out of mind.

sibeen said:

dv said:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Biomass_v9.png

Some of all you might like this diagram showing how the how much of the biomass is made up of various kinds if critter.

Amphibian and reptiles are omitted for some reason.

I will admit surprise that marine Arthropods make up the largest proportion of the animals. Out of sight out of mind.

The ocean is big. The shear volume of space that can be occupried by animals there is much greater than the land, where we have to stay pretty close to the surface.

dunno then

¿ got they à breakdown for the other big groups like plants then ?

dv said:

sibeen said:

dv said:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Biomass_v9.png

Some of all you might like this diagram showing how the how much of the biomass is made up of various kinds if critter.

Amphibian and reptiles are omitted for some reason.

I will admit surprise that marine Arthropods make up the largest proportion of the animals. Out of sight out of mind.

The ocean is big. The shear volume of space that can be occupried by animals there is much greater than the land, where we have to stay pretty close to the surface.

and yet plants

SCIENCE said:

dunno then

¿ got they à breakdown for the other big groups like plants then ?

I mean you just go to the link…

Nice, thanks.

SCIENCE said:

dv said:

sibeen said:

I will admit surprise that marine Arthropods make up the largest proportion of the animals. Out of sight out of mind.

The ocean is big. The shear volume of space that can be occupried by animals there is much greater than the land, where we have to stay pretty close to the surface.

and yet plants

See the thing is, plants in the ocean are also stuck near the surface because light doesn’t penetrate very far.

dv said:

SCIENCE said:

dunno then

¿ got they à breakdown for the other big groups like plants then ?

I mean you just go to the link…

SCIENCE said:

dv said:

SCIENCE said:

dunno then

¿ got they à breakdown for the other big groups like plants then ?

I mean you just go to the link…

So there’s your answer. No.

Looks like they’ve taken a very broad view of Plant, too, including for instance green algae.

Some other missing groups are Platyhelminthes (flatworms), Prions, porifera (sponges).

It is interesting to compare the aquatic to terrestial.

sarahs mum said:

It is interesting to compare the aquatic to terrestial.

And also a little sad to compare wild mammals and birds to livestock

dv said:

sarahs mum said:

It is interesting to compare the aquatic to terrestial.

And also a little sad to compare wild mammals and birds to livestock

It must have looked so different 10,000 years ago.

sibeen said:

dv said:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Biomass_v9.png

Some of all you might like this diagram showing how the how much of the biomass is made up of various kinds if critter.

Amphibian and reptiles are omitted for some reason.

I will admit surprise that marine Arthropods make up the largest proportion of the animals. Out of sight out of mind.

So about 550 GT in all.

I was thinking that’ a lot, but it’s only about 70 T each, which doesn’t seem so much.

dv said:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Biomass_v9.png

Some of all you might like this diagram showing how the how much of the biomass is made up of various kinds if critter.

Amphibian and reptiles are omitted for some reason.

A pie chart would have done. :-)

Thanks ever so much for finding this. I saw one like it about ten years ago, lost it, and have been looking for another one on and off ever since.

“Surprisingly, humans … relatively small”

That’s not surprising. Some of the other descriptions have me cringing, too. eg. nematodes are not closely related to insects.

I find it shocking that stock has such a high biomass compared to wild animals. Not that it’s unexpected, but that’s probably the main reason for extinction of wild mammals – competition by stock for resources.

> marine arthropods

Yep, that’s why krill is such a big hoo-ha.

> plants

You can’t easily split up plants because the biomass of marine phytoplankton varies enormously.from season to season and year to year.

Next step?

• what is the uncertainty on each of these biomass figures?
• compare the carbon biomass of living things to the carbon mass in limestone of coral reefs. How much biomass has been lost as limestone through the growth of coral reefs in the past 12,000 years?

mollwollfumble said:

dv said:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Biomass_v9.png

Some of all you might like this diagram showing how the how much of the biomass is made up of various kinds if critter.

Amphibian and reptiles are omitted for some reason.

A pie chart would have done. :-)

Thanks ever so much for finding this. I saw one like it about ten years ago, lost it, and have been looking for another one on and off ever since.

“Surprisingly, humans … relatively small”

That’s not surprising. Some of the other descriptions have me cringing, too. eg. nematodes are not closely related to insects.

I find it shocking that stock has such a high biomass compared to wild animals. Not that it’s unexpected, but that’s probably the main reason for extinction of wild mammals – competition by stock for resources.

> marine arthropods

Yep, that’s why krill is such a big hoo-ha.

> plants

You can’t easily split up plants because the biomass of marine phytoplankton varies enormously.from season to season and year to year.

Next step?

• what is the uncertainty on each of these biomass figures?
• compare the carbon biomass of living things to the carbon mass in limestone of coral reefs. How much biomass has been lost as limestone through the growth of coral reefs in the past 12,000 years?
  

When you think about it, this is the best argument for vegetarianism that I have ever seen.