Life on earth is powered by the sun. The earth is illuminated with roughly 350 W/m2 of sunlight. Sunlight and biological growth work together as a functioning ecosystem in order to bind energy into organic material. Of the solar energy that reaches the earth's surface, only a very small fraction is actually transformed into living systems. While this fraction may be small, many billions of metric tons of matter per year are produced on a global scale.



Click on any of these links for more information:


An ecosystem is perhaps most fundamentally characterized by its productivity, or the rate of organic material (by photosynthesis primarily), produced per unit area of time. Biological activity of every type is strongly dependent on energy bound by photosynthesis. Ecosystem production rates are dependent upon environmental conditions such as water availability (on land), temperature, and nutrient availability. A highly productive biome is a result of a combination of such favorable characteristics.

The following chart displays ecosystem behavior on Earth.

Model Of Earth

Ecosystem Biomes
Area (106km2)
Net Primary Productivity per area (g/m2yr)
Area Weighted NPP (1012g/yr)
Biomass Production Efficency (e)
Biomass per area (kg/m2)
Global Biomass (109 tons)
Turnover Time (yrs)

Rainforest 24.5 1900 46550 2.680 x 10-3 40.000 980.000 21.05
Forest 24 1100 26400 1.552 x 10-3 28.300 679.200 25.73
Grassland/Savanna 32.5 730 23832 1.030 x 10-3 3.900 126.750 5.34
Cultivated Land 14 650 9100 9.173 x 10-4 1.000 14.000 1.54
Tundra 8 140 1120 1.975 x 10-4 0.600 4.800 4.29
Desert 18 90 1620 1.270 x 10-4 0.700 12.600 7.78
Extreme Conditions 24 3 72 4.233 x 10-6 0.020 0.480 6.67

Algae/Reefs 0.6 2500 1500 3.528 x 10-3 2.000 1.200 0.80
Estuaries 1.4 1500 2100 2.117 x 10-3 1.000 1.400 0.67
Lakes, Swamps, Rivers 4 1125 4500 1.587 x 10-3 7.510 30.040 6.68
Continental Shelf 26.6 360 9576 5.080 x 10-4 0.010 0.266 0.03
Ocean 332 125 41500 1.760 x 10-4 0.003 0.996 0.02

Total 510 10226 167870 85.000 1851.700

The terraforming of Mars would require the transformation of solar energy into biomass energy. The generation of plant life on the planet, in turn, would produce the proper conditions required to obtain a breathable atmosphere. Specially developed organisms could yield much higher efficiencies of turning sunlight into plant mass (measured in grams of carbon).

Based upon the Earth data above, choose your own ecosystem distribution values to build a terraformed Mars.

Terrestrial Biomes
Minimum Temperature (°C)
Maximum Temperature (°C)
Optimum Temperature (°C)
Minimum Precipitation (mm)
Maximum Precipitation (mm)
Rainforest 18 27 27 1000 2500
Forest -2 22 13 750 1500
Grassland/Savanna 2 27 16 250 400
Cultivated Land 15 28 19 80 400
Tundra -50 12 8 20 250
Desert 21 38 15 0 250
Extreme Conditions -50 38 0 0 25

Model Of Mars

Choose A Global Temperature:°C
Choose the amount of moisture for each ecosystem using the given range from the table above (be sure to fill in each field):

*Total area must sum to 144 x 106 km2*

EcosystemYou enter
RainforestLand Area: x106 km2 % of land:
ForestLand Area: x106 km2 % of land:
Grassland/SavannaLand Area: x106 km2 % of land:
Cultivated LandLand Area: x106 km2 % of land:
TundraLand Area: x106 km2 % of land:
Desert Land Area: x106 km2 % of land:
Extreme ConditionsLand Area: x106 km2 % of land:
Algae/ReefsLand Area: x106 km2 % of land:
EstuariesLand Area: x106 km2 % of land:
Lakes, Swamps, RiversLand Area: x106 km2 % of land:
Continental ShelfLand Area: x106 km2 % of land:
OceanLand Area: x106 km2 % of land:


Ecosystem
Estimated Biomass for one year on Mars
Rainforest Mars Biomass: x 109 tons
Forest Mars Biomass: x 109 tons
Grassland/Savanna Mars Biomass: x 109 tons
Cultivated Land Mars Biomass: x 109 tons
Tundra Mars Biomass: x 109 tons
Desert Mars Biomass: x 109 tons
Extreme Conditions Mars Biomass: x 109 tons
Algae/Reefs Mars Biomass: x 109 tons
Estuaries Mars Biomass: x 109 tons
Lakes, Swamps, Rivers Mars Biomass: x 109 tons
Continental Shelf Mars Biomass: x 109 tons
Ocean Mars Biomass: x 109 tons


On Your Mars:On Current Earth:
Total Biomass: x 109 tons Total Biomass: 1851.7 x 109tons

Acknowledgements for the photos

Data Analysis: Bridget Smith
Web Design: Katie Strong

Back

Link back to index page.