What this Lesson Covers
Overview
Many management and monitoring goals require an assessment of
the amount of biomass that occurs on the site or landscape. For
example, decisions about livestock stocking rate, fire risk and
behavior, and wildlife habitat value require good estimates of
biomass.
Utilization is the term that describes the amount of biomass that was removed
by grazing. The concept of utilization is important because excessive levels of
utilization (or biomass removal) can reduce health and persistence of plants.
Thus, land managers often track utilization to determine if grazing practices
are having the intended effects on plants they want to promote or supress.
This module overviews specific terms used to describe biomass and a variety
of ways to measure and account for biomass will be highlighted.
Learning Objectives
After this module you will be able to:
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Explain
the difference between common terms used to describe biomass.
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Understand
the value of measuring biomass to describe ecosystem function and assist
in making land management decisions.
-
Describe
the basic approaches to for direct and indirect assessment of cover.
-
Summarize
biomass data collected in small plots to describe biomass across a large
landscape expressed in units of dry mass per hectare or acre.
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