Biomass (ecology)

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/biomass-ecology

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How heavy is Biomass (ecology)?Approximately 550 billion tonnes (Bar-On et al., 2018)
2. What is the estimated global annual net primary production (carbon)?Slightly over 100 billion tonnes (Field et al., 1998)
3. What is biomass?Biomass is the total weight of all living things in a place at a specific time. It shows how much life there is in an ecosystem.
4. Why are plants the heaviest part of Earth's biomass?Plants make up most of Earth's living mass, about 550 billion tonnes of carbon. They grow from the ground and use sunlight to build their bodies, so they weigh more than animals or microbes.

Biomass: The total mass of living organisms in a given area or ecosystem at a specific time.
Primary Production: The rate at which producers (like plants) create organic matter from inorganic sources.
Anthropogenic Mass: The collective mass of solid, inanimate objects manufactured by humans.