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30J Fall 2003

Fundamentals of Ecology

Lecture 3 – Primary Productivity

READINGS FOR NEXT LECTURE:

Krebs. Pages 97-102: “Light as a Limiting Factor.”

Broad, WJ. 2003. Deep under the sea, boiling founts of life itself. NY Times. 9/9 (H,W)
Behavior
Field, CB et al. 1998. Primary production of the biosphere: Integrating
(7,9) terrestrial and
oceanic components. Science. 281:237-240. (H,W)
Noble IR and R Dirzo. 1997. Forests as human-dominated ecosystems. Science.
277:522-525.

Questions for today:

How do energy and carbon move through ecosystems?
How do terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems vary?
What limits their productivity?

Outline:
I. Scale
II. Definitions
A. Terms to describe productivity
B. Residence times and turnover rate
III. Distribution on the Earth MOVIE NIGHT:
IV. Terrestrial Productivity
A. Limiting factors Monday 9/15 @ 7:30pm
B. Measurement
“Cane Toads”
I. Scale

(A) “Metabolism” of a Cell (B) “Metabolism ” of a Drop of the Ocean

(C) “Metabolism ” of an Ocean
CO2 Solar

ADP
NADP CO2 Energy
CO2 O2 1 mm CO2
O2 700
“CH2O” ATP H2 O O2 Inorganic O2
NADPH Nutrients
Chloroplast “[CH2O]”
DNA GROWTH Biological Work Phytoplankton O2 Animals Plants Mixed 600
Nucleus O2 O2 - Motility
- Biosynthesis O2 Remineralized Layer
“CH2O”
NADH - Transport
CO2 Nutrients
[“CH2O”]
“CH2O” ATP - Electrical Potential O2 100m
Dissolved
- Light Emission Recycled Inorganic
Organic
Carbon CO2 ADP Inorganic Nutrients
NAD Zooplankter “CH2O”
Nutrients 40,000
Mitochondrion Deep Sea Sediments
Fecal pellets
Inorganic Upwelled 4000m
“[CH2O]” Inorganic
1 µm CO2
Nutrients Carbon inventory
Nutrients x 1015g C
N,P,Fe,S etc

+ -

1
II. Definitions

A. Terms to describe Productivity

gross primary productivity (GPP) = rate of conversion of CO2 to organic carbon per unit surface area
Units: g C m-2 year-1, or Kcal m-2 year-1
gross primary production has units of g C year-1 for a lake, forest, field, etc.
respiration by autotrophs (RA) = how much energy or carbon is used for plant metabolism
net primary production (NPP) = GPP – RA = how much energy or carbon is stored as biomass
respiration by heterotrophs (RH) = how much energy or carbon is used for heterotroph metabolism
net community production (NCP) = GPP – RA – RH = NPP – RH
photosynthetic efficiency (PE) = 100*(incident radiation converted to NPP)/(total incident radiation)
n.b. We’re using energy and (reduced) carbon interchangeably. Conversion: 39 kJ per g C

B. Residence times and turnover rates

f = flux (mass/area/time). use GPP (how much is entering the system)

M = mass (biomass/area)
Mean residence time (MRT) = M/f = (g/m2) / (g/m2/year) = years
Fractional turnover (k) = 1 / MRT * 100 = % turning over each year

Study Questions:
1. What is the difference between net and gross primary productivity? What is the difference between net
community productivity and net primary productivity? How would you measure these difference?
2. What regulates primary productivity in terrestrial? How is this reflected in the global distribution of primary
production?
3. What is the turnover rate in a forest? What does it signify? How is it measured?
4. What is functionally and physiologically similar about phytoplankton and trees? What is different?
5. How will increases in atmospheric CO2 affect global productivity?
6. Discuss the principles behind remote sensing to terrestrial productivity. What limits the quality of the data?
7. Describe 2 strategies plants have developed to deal with low water availability.
8. According to Noble and Dirzo, human domination of forests extends beyond plantations and actively
managed lands. In what other ways do humans alter forest ecosystems, and how do the authors
recommend minimizing the detrimental impacts?