The total mass of living organisms in a given area or ecosystem, often measured as dry weight. Biomass can refer to all life in an ecosystem or specific groups like plant biomass or microbial biomass.
Compound from Greek 'bios' (life) and 'mass' from Latin 'massa' (lump or quantity). The term emerged in ecology during the mid-20th century as scientists developed methods to quantify the amount of living matter in ecosystems.
Despite their tiny size, bacteria and other microbes actually make up more biomass than all animals combined on Earth! In the ocean, the biomass pyramid is often inverted, with tiny but rapidly reproducing phytoplankton supporting much larger fish populations.
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