BRAINCAKEBiomass
Biomass is the total mass of living material in a given area (or volume, for aquatic ecosystems) at a particular time.
In any ecosystem, producers synthesise organic compounds from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere or dissolved in water. Most of the sugars they make are used as respiratory substrates, releasing energy for the plant's own processes. The rest are used to make other groups of biological molecules, such as cellulose, starch, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. These molecules form the biomass of the plant. Consumers build their own biomass from the molecules in the food they eat.
Biomass is a chemical energy store. When an organism is eaten, some of this chemical energy is transferred to the next trophic level.
Sign in free to see the rest of this lesson, the R.E.C.I.P.E. recall steps and the quiz
BrainCake is free. Make an account in seconds and pick up where this page stops.
Key terms in this lesson
- respiratory substrate
- An organic molecule, such as glucose, that is broken down in respiration to release energy as ATP.
More in Energy and Ecosystems
- Producers, Consumers and Decomposers
- Trophic Levels
- Measuring Biomass - Dry Mass
- Calorimetry and Chemical Energy in Biomass
- Gross Primary Production
- Net Primary Production
- NPP = GPP - R
- Net Production of Consumers
All 14 lessons in Energy and Ecosystems · All AQA A-level Biology topics