Definition of "biota" [bi•o•ta]

• The combined flora and fauna of a region. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The biota is generally considered derived from hygrophilous tropical warm level stock as well as Andean elements that arrived through the eastern mountain range of Colombia in particular and others with more affinity to the Andes of Mérida and the mountain range on the Venezuelan coast."
• "So it's a very different kind of biota that would have been in these lagoons or near-shore deposits, near-shore areas 36 million years ago."
• "Our mission was to survey the unique biota of the islands, which had just received official conservation status from the Malagasy government."