Look up biomass in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Biological material from either living (see ecology) or recently living organisms (see bioenergy)
Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of
ecology it means living organisms,[1] and in the context of
bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how biomass is defined, e.g. only from plants,[2] from plants and algae,[3] from plants and animals.[4] The vast majority of biomass used for bioenergy does come from plants. Bioenergy is a type of
renewable energy with potential to assist with
climate change mitigation.[5]
biomass: Material produced by the growth of microorganisms, plants or animals.
[6]
Uses in different contexts
Ecology
Biomass (ecology), the mass of living biological organisms in a given area or ecosystem at a given time. This can be the biomass of particular
species or the biomass of a particular
community or
habitat.
Biomass is also used as a term for the mass of microorganisms that are used to produce industrial products like
enzymes and
medicines.[citation needed]
^Houghton, R. A. (2008-01-01),
"Biomass", in Jørgensen, Sven Erik; Fath, Brian D. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Ecology, Oxford: Academic Press, pp. 448–453,
ISBN978-0-08-045405-4, retrieved 2023-01-13