Biomass

Glucose can then be used to synthesise other molecules and build new living material, or biomass. Photosynthetic organisms therefore produce the biomass on which the rest of the food chain depends.

As it grows, the mass of its living material increases. This living material is its biomass, measured as dry mass so that differences in water content do not distort the comparison. Photosynthetic organisms are therefore the main producers of both food and biomass.

A carbohydrate such as glucose can be converted into other biological molecules and incorporated into new cells and tissues. This increases the organism's biomass—the mass of its biological material. For example, when a seedling grows new roots, leaves and stems, it is building biomass from materials that include the products of photosynthesis.

Together with other substances taken in from the environment, including nitrogen compounds needed to make amino acids and proteins, these molecules form the producer's biomass—its biological material.