All Flashcards
What determines how much life an ecosystem can support?
Net Primary Productivity (NPP).
How does NPP relate to biodiversity?
Higher NPP usually means more biodiversity and more organisms at higher trophic levels.
Why is NPP important?
It's the real energy available to the ecosystem and determines how much life it can support.
What is the relationship between GPP and NPP?
NPP = GPP - Respiration. NPP is the energy remaining after accounting for respiration.
What percentage of sunlight is captured by plants?
Only about 1% of sunlight is captured by plants.
What happens to the energy captured by plants?
Some is used for respiration, and the rest becomes Net Primary Productivity (NPP).
What is Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)?
Total energy captured by producers through photosynthesis.
What is Net Primary Productivity (NPP)?
Energy remaining after producers use some for respiration; available for growth and other organisms.
Define Respiration in the context of primary productivity.
Process where plants use captured energy for their needs, releasing some as heat.
What are the basic steps in calculating NPP?
- Measure GPP (total energy captured). 2. Measure respiration (energy used by producers). 3. Subtract respiration from GPP: NPP = GPP - Respiration.