The world’s present economy is highly dependent on various fossil energy sources such as oil, coal, natural gas, etc [1]. There are several alternative energies which can replace fossil fuels in the future, such as hydro, solar, wind, biomass and ocean thermal energy. Among these energy sources, biomass is the only carbon-based sustainable energy and is utilized by most people around the world ...

The vertical distribution of foliage biomass is important because it is associated with photosynthesis and is closely related to some wood quality attributes such as branch diameter and sapwood content. In this article we propose a model to predict foliage biomass distribution within the crown for jack pine trees in Eastern Canada. This model has two parts. The first one distinguishes the propo...

BACKGROUND Lignocellulose is the most abundant biomass on earth. However, biomass recalcitrance has become a major factor affecting biofuel production. Although cellulose crystallinity significantly influences biomass saccharification, little is known about the impact of three major wall polymers on cellulose crystallization. In this study, we selected six typical pairs of Miscanthus samples th...

Coral reefs around the world have experienced a dramatic decline during the past 25 years. Overfishing is believed to play a major role. There is significant interest in stabilizing and restoring damaged reefs, and first steps include understanding the functioning of reefs in their natural state and examining the effects of fishing. The isolated Kingman and Palmyra reefs are believed to provide...

[1] This study was conducted to examine direct and indirect impacts of global warming on carbon processes in a tallgrass prairie in the U.S. Great Plains. Infrared radiators were used to simulate global warming, and clipping was used to mimic hay mowing. Experimental warming caused significant increases in green biomass in spring and autumn and total biomass in summer on most of the measuring d...

Hypoxia in Chesapeake Bay has substantially increased in recent decades, with detrimental effects on macrobenthic production; the production of these fauna link energy transfer from primary consumers to epibenthic and demersal predators. As such, the development of accurate predictive models that determine the impact of hypoxia on macrobenthic production is important. A continuous-time, biomass...

We examine global patterns of benthic macroinvertebrate biomass and its distribution among functional feeding guilds in marine intertidal cOnmlunities. Variation in ash-free dry biomass was related to physical variables (mean annual air and water temperatures, sediment grain size, intertidal slope, tide range and type, wave height and exposure) by least-squares regression analysis of data for 3...

—Quantifying root biomass is critical to an estimation and understanding of ecosystem net primary production, biomass partitioning, and belowground competition. We compared 2 methods for determining root biomass: a new soil-coring technique and traditional excavation of quantitative pits. We conducted the study in an existing Joint Fire Sciences demonstration area in the central Great Basin. Th...

BACKGROUND Half of the world's population is exposed to household air pollution from biomass burning. This study aimed to assess the relationship between respiratory symptoms and biomass smoke exposure in rural and urban Nepal. METHODS A cross-sectional study of adults (16+ years) in a rural population (n = 846) exposed to biomass smoke and a non-exposed urban population (n = 802) in Nepal. A...

The ever-increasing global demand for energy and materials has a pronounced effect on worldwide economic stability, diplomacy, and technical advancement. In response, a recent key research area in biotechnology has centered on the biological conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to simple sugars. Lignocellulosic biomass, converted to fermentable sugars via enzymatic hydrolysis of cell wall poly...