Biomass decomposer organisms

The Rothamsted Carbon Model (RothC) uses a five pool structure, decomposable plant material (DPM), resistant plant materials (RPM), microbial biomass, humified organic matter, and inert organic matter to assess carbon turnover (Coleman and Jenkinson 1996 Guo et al. 2007). The first four pools decompose by first-order kinetics. The decay rate constants are modified by temperature, soil moisture, and indirectly by clay content. RothC does not include a plant growth sub-module, and therefore NHC inputs must be known, estimated, or calculated by inverse modeling. Skjemstad et al. (2004) tested an approach for populating the different pools based on measured values. 

Little is known about the relationship between organic phosphorus fractions determined by different quantification methods. From the few experiments where sequential phosphorus fractionation and NMR have been applied together (in bulk soil and in particle size fractions) in the tropics, it appears that phosphate diesters extracted by sodium bicarbonate are labile compounds from microbial biomass and easily decomposable organic matter associated with the sand fraction, while those in sodium hydroxide extracts are microbial... 

The plants, animals and micro-organisms in wetlands are generally adapted to survival in wet habitats. One example is the species of the moss Sphagnum which thrive in such waterlogged, nutrient-poor and acidic environments because of various adaptations. The accumulation of biomass occms because of this saturation which provides a medium that is imsuitable for decomposer organisms (detrivores, see Section 3.6.3). The medium is even more unfavourable if conditions are acidic. Thus the rate of breakdown of organic matter is lower than its rate of accumulation and so organic... 

The subsequent fate of the assimilated carbon depends on which biomass constituent the atom enters. Leaves, twigs, and the like enter litterfall, and decompose and recycle the carbon to the atmosphere within a few years, whereas carbon in stemwood has a turnover time counted in decades. In a steady-state ecosystem the net primary production is balanced by the total heterotrophic respiration plus other outputs. Non-respiratory outputs to be considered are fires and transport of organic material to the oceans. Fires mobilize about 5 Pg C/yr (Baes et ai, 1976 Crutzen and Andreae, 1990), most of which is converted to CO2. Since bacterial het-erotrophs are unable to oxidize elemental carbon, the production rate of pyroligneous graphite, a product of incomplete combustion (like forest fires), is an interesting quantity to assess. The inability of the biota to degrade elemental carbon puts carbon into a reservoir that is effectively isolated from the atmosphere and oceans. Seiler and Crutzen (1980) estimate the production rate of graphite to be 1 Pg C/yr. 

Ros M, Pascuala JA, Garciaa C, Hemandeza MT, Insam H (2006) Hydrolase activities, microbial biomass and bacterial community in a soil after long-term amendment with different composts. Soil Biol Biochem 38 3443-3452 Rovira P, Vallejo VR (2002) Labile and recalcitrant pools of carbon and nitrogen in organic matter decomposing at different depths in soil an acid hydrolysis approach. Geoderma 107 109-141... 

In the present chapter, anaerobic digestion (AD) is chosen as an illustrative example of biological WWTPs. It is a set of biological processes that take place in the absence of oxygen and by which organic matter is decomposed and converted on one hand into biogas i.e., a mixture of mainly carbon dioxide and methane) and, on the other hand, into microbial biomass and... 

The decrease of biomass or energy flow to consumer and decomposer in the ecosystem affects the populations of these organisms. 

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