biomass

The amount of living material existing at a given instant of time in a unit volume or area.

biome

An area on the Earth's surface that has a certain set of characteristics. There are seven kinds of biomes in the world: tundra, taiga, temperate forest, tropical rainforest, desert, grassland, and ocean.

canopy

The layers of vegetation above the level of the ground, formed by the leaves of the plants.

phytosphere

The layer of ocean in which the phytoplankton is found.

vegetation index

The reduction of multispectral scanning measurements to a single value for predicting and assessing vegetative characteristics. Examples of such characteristics include plant leaf area, total biomass, fresh and dry above-ground phytomass, chlorophyll content, plant height, percent ground cover by vegetation, grain or forage yield and general plant stress and vigour.