Biomass and Productivity of Tropical Forest

Abstract

Abstract What factors govern the dry matter content and limit the productivity of tropical forest? Tropical forest, which occupies 4% of this planet’s surface, produces 49 billion tons of dry matter per year, containing 22 billion tons of carbon, two-sevenths of the world’s primary production (Whittaker 1975). What the factors are that limit the productivity of tropical forest is now a fashionable question. Human activities are pouring 7.1 billion tons of carbon per year into the earth’s atmosphere, of which 53% is taken back by its various ecosystems (R. F. Stallard, p. c.). The remaining 3.3 billion tons of carbon (12 billion tons of CO2) remain in the atmosphere, increasing its CO2 content by 0.4% and contributing its mite to global warming (Schlesinger 1991).