Earth's Forests

Colorado State University scientist using NASA satellite data made a map that gives the first global picture of the height of Earth's forests. The tallest are the ancient temperate conifer forest canopies in parts of Southeast Asia and North America's Pacific Northwest, the famous Coastal Redwoods and sequoias, Douglas Fir and western hemlock. Even though some individual redwoods are over 350 feet, the map provides the average heights in 1.9-square-mile patches. Broad swaths of shorter boreal forest rule the Northern Hemisphere across Canada and the eastern United States and from Europe across northern Asia. Dense mid-level canopies inhabit the Tropics through South America, Africa and south Asia. This information will help climate scientists create "biomass maps" to better understand the planet's carbon cycle. A biomass map will help fill some gaping holes in scientists' accounting of the 7 billion tons of carbon that humans release each year into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide; about 3 billion tons end up in the atmosphere and 2 billion tons are absorbed in the ocean. Scientists think that photosynthesis by vegetation uses most of the remaining 2 billion tons per year, but they need more detail of the planet's biomass to be sure.

This article relates to biology concepts because photosynthesis is the process by which autotrophs, such as plants and algae, convert light energy and carbon dioxide into sugar for the hetertrophs to consume. Biomass is the organic material made from plants and animals (microorganisms) and also contains stored energy from the sun. It is passed on from tropic levels to tropic levels. Humans release carbon dioxide into the air, where plants use them to produce sugar and oxygen, which we need.

This article is important because it shows how the atmosphere, ocean, and vegetation are affected by amount of carbon that is produced by us. It shows how forests are affected by the amount of carbon produced daily. Biomass is a very important factor in out environment because it could affect every living organism on Earth. Changes in biomass may results in many positives or negative effects for the ecosystems.

http://news.discovery.com/earth/measuring-the-earths-forests.html