Biosphere - Facts

• Carbon stored in the terrestrial biosphere amounts to 3,170GTC.
• Bio-molecules are complex carbon compounds and are produced by living things. They include proteins, carbohydrates, fats and oils.
• The biosphere is the total sum of all living matter.
• Soil carbon can contain inorganic carbon, such as calcite, dolomite or gypsum.
• Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It forms in wetland conditions.
• In tropical rainforests, 50% of carbon is stored in the soil and 50% is stored in the biomass.
• Peat is dead, un-decayed organic matter, which is found in boggy areas and contains 250GTC.
• Soil organic matter contains 1,500GTC.
• The biggest terrestrial store of carbon, which is 26%. The older trees store centuries of carbon and their heavy canopy blocks sunlight from reaching the forest floor.
• Tropical rainforests store 20% of the terrestrial carbon.
• In all forests, 31% of the carbon is stored in the biomass and 69% in the soil.
• Soil humus is a thick brown or black substance that remains after most of the organic litter has been decomposed.
• Peatlands from 3% of the land and store 250GTC.
• The soil carbon pool is approximately 3.1 times larger than the atmospheric pool. Only the ocean has a large store.
• Peat forms when permanent saturation obstructs flows of oxygen creating anaerobic conditions that slows decomposition.
• Leaf accounts for 70% of litter in forests.
• 19% of carbon in the biosphere is stored in plants.