That part of the earth's surface and surrounding air that is capable of supporting life in which heterotrophic (dependent on other sources for food) organisms occur but into which organic food material must be transported because the primary production does not take place where they are: Most of the occupants of the various allobiospheres usually depend on green plants that include elements of solar energy that have been converted into chemical energy which is food for the various species of animal life.

Another allobiosphere has been discovered at the bottom of the seas where hot springs come up from that part of the Earth that is deep below the surface or on the seafloor where hot springs have animals that are separate from green plants but that depend on bacteria that utilize the energy of chemicals from the hot springs.

Ocean depths are the most extensive and permanent example of the allobiosphere where in great areas there is no light and so there is no active plant life; however, explorers of the depths of the oceans have discovered various animals; such as, worms, prawn-like creatures, and many types of fish that live in these locations.

The ecologist, G. Evelyn Hutchinson, coined the term allobiosphere for these environments, where plant life and its photosynthesis are replaced by environmental extremes of darkness, heat, or cold, but where life continues, life that depends for nourishment from materials that come from other places.