Impact of Climate Change on Biomass

Biomass, the mass of living things in an area, has been increasingly recognized as a renewable energy source and they have an active role in maintaining the carbon cycle and thereby climate mitigation. The biomass can be broadly classified as the aquatic biomass and the terrestrial biomass. Even though the biomass has a potential to regulate the climate through carbon sequestration, they are having a threat from the changing climate. Climate change can be defined as the change in the long-term weather patterns in a region, including temperature, humidity, rainfall, and wind speed. Climate change affects the various ecosystems in several ways and a plethora of studies was conducted to evaluate the effects of climate change on biomasses. The increase in the atmospheric temperature leads to the reduction of alkalinity of the marine ecosystem, rise in the sea level, and increase in the sea water temperature which in turn reduces the solubilization of oxygen in the water and thereby affecting the survival of aquatic organisms. Since most of the aquatic organisms are very susceptible to temperature, the change in the water temperature may directly affect their survival and alter the biodiversity. Similarly, the climate change affects the terrestrial ecosystem in several ways. The loss of biomass alleviates the climatic issues, as the biomass is the major carbon reserve. Therefore, strict regulatory measures are necessary to slow down climate change, and at the same time, climate-smart farming, breeding, and the adoption of smart farming practices are urgently needed.