Christian SchwägerlMar 18, 2023

Crazy numbers from #Anthropocene Earth:

Weight of all wild mammals on land: 22 million tons

Weight of all wild mammals in ocean: 40 million tons

Weight of all humans: 390 million tons

Weight of all land mammals domesticated by humans: 630 million tons.

Interesting to test some of figures as e.g. sperm whales alone should be 20m t not 7m t.

But overall ratios are impressive.

New Study in PNAS:
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2204892120

Article in Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/18/a-wake-up-call-total-weight-of-wild-mammals-less-than-10-of-humanitys

Show threadDaanWilmer
@christianschwaegerl numbers also depend on what counts as biomass. Mass of the specimen? Mass of the dry tissue? Mass of the carbon in the specimen?
I can't readily find which method the authors use, but given others' surprise at the numbers it probably isn't the mass of the specimen.
Mar 20, 2023 at 5:42pmWeb
Show threadChristian SchwägerlMar 20, 2023
@DaanWilmer it's so called „wet biomass“, i.e. in a living and breathing condition.
Show threadDaanWilmerMar 20, 2023
@christianschwaegerl ah, indeed, I stand corrected!