Necromass

Deadwood and leaves in a forest

Necromass (derived from the Greek nekros for "inanimate" or "corpse") describes the totality of dead biomass in an ecosystem in biology . This mainly contains plant biomass such as leaves , dead wood ( dead wood ) or parts of roots (roots) on or in the ground. The term can also be applied to dead parts of living organisms, for example the bark and dead heartwood in trees or the hair and claws in animals.

The necromass is usually related to a unit area or, in limnic ecosystems, to a volume of water. The sum of plant necromass and plant biomass gives the phytomass .

supporting documents

1. ↑ ^{a b} Keyword "Nekromasse" in: Herder-Lexikon der Biologie . Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-8274-0354-5 .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Keyword "Nekromasse" in: Michael E. Begon , John L. Harper , Colin R. Townsend : Ecology. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 1998, ISBN 3-8274-0226-3 , p. 716.