Benthos:
This is a name for animals (such as clams) and plants (such as kelp) that live on the bottom of the ocean no matter how shallow or deep the water is, but most plants live in shallow water.

Biodegradable (spoken like ‘bio-dee-grade-able’):
This name is given to anything that can be broken down into other non-harmful parts (‘substances’) by the action of other living organisms, especially ‘bacteria’.

Biomass:
Biomass is the total amount of all living organic material in an ecosystem.

Biosphere:
The part of the earth in which we find living species, including all of us, is called the biosphere. Most ‘organisms’ (or forms of life) are found within a small layer (just a few metres!) of the earths surface, either in the soil, in the water, standing on the ground, or…. Can you think of anywhere else that other forms of life, such as birds, might be found?