I think they're saying that the dry biomass of terrestrial species is 30% of the fresh biomass. Especially since the "global dry biomass in million tonnes" / "global wet (fresh) biomass in million tonnes" = 0.3 for all those rows in the table.
-- rec -- On Sat, Nov 2, 2013 at 6:11 PM, Robert Holmes <[email protected]>wrote: > Wikipedia has an interesting summary of various species' contribution to > terrestrial biomass > (link<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomass_(ecology)#Global_biomass>). > The following species are each individually responsible for 30% of > terrestrial biomass: > > 1. humans > 2. cattle > 3. sheep and goats > 4. chickens > 5. ants > > Yes, that *is* 5 species, each of which contributes 30%… > > —R > > > On Sat, Nov 2, 2013 at 5:44 PM, Russell Standish <[email protected]>wrote: > >> On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 10:01:11AM -0600, Steve Smith wrote: >> > >> > FWIW, Daniel Dennett recently claimed that 10,000 years ago humans >> > and their domesticated animals comprised less than 1% of the mass of >> > animal (not including invertebrates or ocean dwellers) of the earth >> > but today we, along with our livestock and pets comprise 98%... I >> > can't even image what the relative mass of automobiles (or just >> > their tires?) or buildings might be (or smartphones or LEGO blocks). >> > >> > >> >> I'm highly sceptical of that claim. In the soils below our house, live >> city-sized populations of ant, earthworms, and probably even more >> nematodes. These all count as animal. And I live in one of the most >> densely (human) populated parts of Australia (and the world, for that >> matter, if you think of the vaste expanses of desert, savannah, >> farmland etc). >> >> Schultz (PNAS, vol 97, 14028--14029), for example, estimates that ants >> alone monopolise 15-25% of terrestrial biomass, far more than the >> vertebrates. >> >> Cheers >> >> >> -- >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) >> Principal, High Performance Coders >> Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] >> University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >
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