Biomass Classification

Biomass Classification
• General Terrestrial
Biomass Aquatic

Phytobiomass Microbial Animal

(Trees, shrubs & herbs) •Viruses •Vertebrates
•Agriculture •Bacteria •Non-vertebrates
•Horticulture •Fungi
•Forestry •Protozoa
•Pastures •Algae
•Floriculture •Actinomycetes
•Agroforestry
 Classification on the Basis of Cell Type Classification contd…

Living Organisms

Prokaryotes Eukaryotes Viruses

•No nuclear membrane •Cells with True (Not cellular)
and no true nuclei nuclei, e.g. fungi, •Smallest living organisms
e.g. Bacteria plants, animals •Can multiply only in a living cell
• Most ancient group of •Appeared 1200 m (obligate endoparasite)
organisms having yrs ago •Simple structure consisting a
appeared about 3500 •Evolved from small piece of nucleic acid i.e. DNA
million yrs ago prokaryotes. or RNA surrounded by lipoprotein
•Smallest cellular coat
organisms (0.5-10 •Mainly multicellular •Size 20-30 nm
micron) except few. •Most causes diseases
•Unicellular
•Cell division –Binary
fission
Classification contd…
Classification contd…
• On the Basis of Nutrition Classification contd…

Living Organisms

Phototrophs Chemotrophs
or Autotrophs or Hetrotrophs
Eg. Plants They use chemical energy
They carry out
photosynthesis
They use light energy
Saprotrophs Mutualists Parasites
Obtain food from eg Rhizobium •Obligate
dead & decaying •Facaltative
matter
 Classification contd…

Classification of Phytobiomass on the basis

of water requirement
Phytobiomass

Mesophytes Xerophytes Hydrophytes

Where water is Extremely Plants which grow
neither scare dry and arid in water;
nor abundant conditions Mainly two types:
phytoplankton
(unicellular algae)
and macrophytes
 Xerophytes Classification contd…

Psammophytes Halophytes
Lithophytes Psychrophytes Grow on salt
Grow on sand or Grow on very cold
Grows on affected area.
small pebbles in soil where the water
rocks. Eg. Eg
dry habitats. Eg. Lichens and availability is Mangroove
Acacia senegal limited on the
certain
account of frequent
Euphorbias
freezing. Eg.
Himalayan flora
 Classification contd…
Hydrophytes

The submerged
Marginal emergent rooted The rooted The free
hydrophytes: hydrophytes hydrophytes floating
2-15 cm of basal part Restricted to with floating hydrophytes.
of plant is immerged. shallow regions leaves. Eg Eg Trapa, Water
Eg. Typha, Polygonum and remain
Nymphea, hyacinth, Azolla
submerged. Eg
Nelumbium etc.
Hydrilla,
Valisnaria
 Classification of water environment

Water environment

Fresh water Marine

(pools, ponds, rivers, streams)

Shallow shore OCEANIC

Standing water Running water region, NERITIC zone away
bodied called bodies zone, visited by from land
LENTIC (lakes, LOTIC (river, tides
ponds) stream)
•Depending upon Temp. factor

Upper warmer region Deep cold almost plant less

of lake ,EPILIMNION HYPOLIMNION ZONE
ZONE rich in plants

•On the basis of productivity & fertility of lakes

Lake

EUTROPHIC or highly productive OLIGOTROPHIC, very deep ,poor

& rich in plants . in productivity & low in nutrient content
They are shallow
 Raunkiaer’s Life Forms (1934)
On the basis of position and degree of protection of
perennating bud during adverse conditions:
1. Phanerophytes: Buds are on upright shoot
A. Megaphanerophytes: Trees > 30 m tall
B. Mesophanerophytes: Between 8-30 m height
C. Microphanerophytes: Between 2-8 m height
D. Nanophanerophytes: Shrubs < 2m
2. Chameaephytes: - Found in cold regions at high altitudes.
- Hibernating/perennating buds on persistent shoots near the ground
surface, no more than 25 cm
above the soil surface
eg Maquis
 - Chamaephytes are especially important in stressful
environments ( for example in alpine, arctic or dry
ecosystems, and on nutrient-poor soils or rock)

3. Hemicryptophytes: In cold climate regions; the

perennating buds, underground/ very near the soil
surface, eg. Daisy
4. Cryptophytes:
Buds burried in the soil. Eg bulbs,
Rhizomes (Ginger) etc.

5. Therophytes:

Survive during adverse season in the form of seeds;

Plants grow, flower and produce seeds in favorable

season; annuals; found in dry, hot and cold

conditions. Eg. wheat, rice etc.

Phaneopyte
Chaemiphytes
Hemicryptophytes

Cryptophytes

Therophytes

Bold or dark parts : perennating buds

 Classification on the basis of Agro
climatic Conditions

There are nine botanical provinces:

1. Western Himalayas 2. Eastern himalayas

3. West Indian deserts 4. Gangatic plains

5. Assam 6. Central India

7. Malabar 8. The Deccan

9. Andamans
 (Central region of Kumaon to N. western
1. Western Himalayas region of kashmir)

Submontane: Upto
1500 m. eg timber,
sal, shisham
Montane: 1500 –
3000 m; Fruit trees.
Eg. apple, peach etc

The Alpine Zone:

above 3000 m.
Flowering plants
2. Eastern Himalayas
Higher rainfall + warmer ( Sikkim to
Arunachal pradesh)

Temperate: 1800 – The Alpine: Above

Submontane: Upto 1800
3800 m; Colder. Eg. 3800 m; and devoid of
m; warmer and humid.
Oak, conifers, trees.
Eg. shisham, kachnar
bamboo Grasses dominate
 3. The West Indian Desert:
- Part of Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Gujarat.

- Hot and dry summer and cold winter.

- Low rainfall; in certain regions 10-15 mm only.
- Shurbby species are xeric (eg. ber, cactus are dominating)

4. The Gangatic Plain:

- Most fertile area.

- Arjun, Dhak, Chiraungi, Tendu etc.

5. Assam
- Heaviest rainfall upto 1000 cm.
- Broad leaved angiosperms
 6. Central India
-M.P., parts of Orissa and Gujarat.
-Species like Palas, Teak ,Arjun,Dhau, Jamun,Tendu etc

7. Malabar
- Western coast of India extending from Gujarat in north to the

Cape coumarin in South.

- Tropical moist evergreen forests.
- Mixed deciduous forests; eg. Mangrove forests.

8. Deccan
Parts of Maharastra, Karnataka, A.P. and Tamil nadu.
Comparatively drier region (~ 100 cm avg rainfall); eg. Chandan,
palm, date palm

9. Andaman

Mangroves type vegetation

 Mangroves
Various types of trees, shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment
habitats in the tropics and subtropics.

Require a number of physiological

adaptations to overcome the problems of anoxia
(low oxygen) high salinity and frequent
tidal inundation. Red mangrove

Types of mangroves
Red mangroves: can survive in the most
inundated areas, prop themselves above the water level with stilt
roots and can then absorb air through pores in their bark (lenticels)
• Black mangroves live on higher ground and make many
pneumatophores (specialised root-like structures ,also known
breathing tubes. These "breathing tubes" typically reach heights of
up to 30 cm, and in some species, over 3 m. The four types of
pneumatophores are;
- stilt type,
- peg type,
- knee type,
- ribbon type.

Black mangrove
Stilt Roots
Mangroves require a different kind of support system. Mangroves
grow in wet, muddy soil at the water's edge which can be subjected
to tides and flooding. As a means of support they develop several
aerial pitchfork-like extensions from the trunk which grow
downwards and anchor themselves in the soil trapping sediment
which helps to stabilize the tree

Stilt Roots
 coral
Brown Mangroves
Generally found growing in brackish water in tidal lagoons**
and bay*.
Bay*-A large area of sea water mostly surrounded by land.

**Lagoon –a small stretch of sea water separated from sea by bank or

coral reef.
Reef - a ridge of jagged rock, coral, or sand just above or below
the surface of the sea.
Mangroves
Red mangrove with stilt roots/nematophore
Salt crystals formed on grey mangrove leaf
 Mangroves

Pneumatophores -specialised root-like structures, as

breathing tubes in Black mangrove
 Animal Biomass
(Classification on the basis of habit and habitat)
Plankton Animal biomass
=wanderer Microbenthos
or drifter (one tenth of one
Aquatic Terrestrial mm)
(Marine & freshwater animals)

Meiobenthos
Zooplankton Nekton Benthos between 1/10 to
*Invertebrates 1mm)
that float Actively floating animals,
throughout the generally independent of
water body. currents. Macrobenthos
Eg. Jelly fish, Eg. bony fish (>1 mm)
molluscs

Solitary animals Colonial Gregarious Parasites Sanguivorous Coprofagous

(Grasshopper) (Bees) (Locust) (Ascaris) feed on blood (Rabbit)
(leech) Feed on their own
feces
• Plankton (singular plankter) are organisms that lives in the water
and are incapable of swimming against a current. They provide a
crucial source of food to many large aquatic organisms, such as fish
and whales
• These organisms include drifting animals ,archaea, algae or bacteria
that inhabit the pelagic zone (Any water in a sea or lake that is
neither close to the bottom nor near the shore of oceans, seas, or
bodies of fresh water).
• Though many plankton are
microscopic in size, they
include organisms covering a
wide range of sizes including
large organisms such as
jellyfish.
Phytoplankton- eg.diatoms
Zooplankton- e.g. Jellyfish
Panktonic organisms
Benthos is the community of organisms (producers as well as
consumers) which live in , on or near the bottom of water
bodies /ocean.
• Many organisms adapted to deep water pressure can not survive
in the upper parts of the water column.
• The benthos encompasses a huge array of life with many phyla
involved. The benthic zone of the ocean is varied .
• There are mountains, trenches, flat, muddy areas, sandy areas
and rocky areas.
• Some organisms live in the mud, some crawl or swim along the
bottom and some anchor themselves to the ocean floor.
• Zoobenthos
Zoobenthos , all consumers,comprises the benthic animals and
protozoa.
• Phytobenthos
Phytobenthos , primary producers, comprises mainly benthic
diatoms , various algae and aquatic plants.

Diatoms are a major group of microalgae, and are

among the most common types of phytoplankton.
Diatoms are unicellular, although they can
form colonies in the shape of filaments or ribbons
- Cells are enclosed within a cell wall made
of silica (hydrated silicon dioxide) called a frustule. Diatoms