harvest method (2024)

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A productivity measuring technique, most commonly used for estimates of primary productivity, especially in situations in which predation is low (e.g. among annual crops, on certain heathlands, in colonizing grasslands, and sometimes in pond ecosystems). Sample areas are harvested at intervals throughout the growing season, and the material is dried to estimate dry weight or calorific value. The method may also be used for woodlands, although usually only one final felling and dry-weight estimation is feasible. In such situations it is generally more reliable and ecologically more desirable to use indirect, non-destructive estimates (e.g. by monitoring carbon dioxide profiles). Compare aerodynamic method. The harvest method is usually used only for above-ground biomass and therefore neglects the large and important development of root biomass below ground level.