BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTION AND ENERGY FLOW IN

RESERVOIRS

M. Feroz Khan
Scientist (SG)
Reservoir Fisheries Division, Bangalore

Many factors can limit the growth of aquatic weeds and other forms of life, but the ultimate
limit on production of organic matter is energy flow. Before determining the maximum possible
production of organic matter of any kind it is necessary to understand the basic concepts of
biological production, energy and energy flow.

Biological production

Biological productivity Central to all biological activity within inland aquatic ecosystems is
biological productivity or aquatic production This involves two main processes: (1) primary
production, in which living organisms form energy-rich organic material (biomass) from energy-
poor inorganic materials in the environment through photosynthesis, and (2) secondary
production, the transformation, through consumption, of this biomass into other forms. In this
context, it is important to distinguish between gross primary production—i.e., the total amount of
energy fixed by photosynthesis—and net primary production—i.e., the amount of energy fixed less
that respired by the plants involved and available for secondary production. Biological production
involves the capture of usable energy and the production of organic compounds in which the
energy is stored. This includes all living things plus all products of living things. Once an organism
has obtained new organic matter, it can use the energy to move, to produce new compounds, to
reproduce and so forth. Primary productivity is the rate at which energy is converted by
photosynthetic and chemosynthetic autotrophs to organic substances. The total amount of
productivity in a region or system is gross primary productivity. A certain amount of organic
material is used to sustain the life of producers; what remains is net productivity. Net primary
productivity is the amount of organic material available to support the consumers (herbivores and
carnivores). The standing crop is the total biomass (weight) of vegetation. Most primary
productivity is carried out by pelagic phytoplankton, not benthic plants. Most primary producers
require nitrogen and phosphorus, which are available as nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, and
phosphorus. The abundances of these molecules and the intensity and quality of light exert a
major influence on rates of production
.
The use of energy in organic matter in both heterotrophic and autotrophic is accomplished
through respiration. In respiration, an organic compound is combined with oxygen to release
energy and produce carbon dioxide and water. Respiration is the use of biomass to release
energy that can be used to do work. There are 3 measures of production viz. biomass, energy
content and carbon content. Biomass is usually measured as the amount of total organic matter
per unit surface area of the earth, for example g/m2 or metric tons per hectare, MT/ha. The
change in biomass over a given period of time is called net production.

Gross and net production

There are three steps in the production of biomass and its use as a source of
energy by autotrophs. First, an organism produces organic matter within its body; next it
uses some of this new organic matter as a fuel in respiration; finally, some of the newly
produced organic matter is stored for future use. In these terms,

Net production = Gross production - Respiration

Net production of an aquatic weed in a reservoir is energy contained in what is
left at the end of the year and includes new stem laid down in the branch, new buds that
will develop into leaves and flowers the next year, and new roots. Net production results
in the increase of total weight, energy content and stored carbon.
Rates of production, factors that limit production, and the results of production
have been and are matters of constant and fundamental interest in inland waters, not
least because of the impact that different levels of production in certain waters have on
human populations. Decreased levels of secondary production (e.g., a reduction in the
fish population) can lead to a meagre harvest, which can in turn provide insufficient
protein for some local human populations. Elevated levels of primary production brought
about by the input of excess plant nutrients, principally phosphates and nitrates, into
inland waters following agricultural and urban development of catchments (known as
eutrophication), can also be harmful. For example, eutrophication often results in the
development of algal blooms—i.e., dense populations of algae and cyanobacteria,
which may be unsightly, toxic, malodorous, or otherwise harmful and unwanted

Energy in Ecological Systems

Energy is defined as the ability to do work. The law of thermodynamics describes

the behaviour of energy. The first law of thermodynamics, or the energy conservation
law states that energy may be transformed from one type into another but is neither
created nor destroyed. The second law of thermodynamics or entropy, may be stated in
several ways, including the following: No process involving an energy transformation will
spontaneously occur unless there is a degradation of the energy from a concentrated
form into a dispersed form.
Organisms, ecosystems, and the entire biosphere possess the essential
thermodynamic characteristics: they can create and maintain a high state of internal
order, or a condition of low entropy (a low amount of disorder or unavailable energy in a
system). Low entropy is achieved by continually and effectively dissipating energy of
high utility (light or food for example) to energy low utility (heat, for example).
Ecosystems and organisms are, accordingly open, non-equilibrium, thermodynamic
systems that exchange energy and matter with the environment continuously to
decrease internal but increase external entropy.
Energy flow is the movement of energy through an ecosystem – from the
external environment through a series of organisms and back to the external
environment. It is one of the fundamental processes common to all ecosystems. The
 Figure 1 illustrates the energy flow within an ecosystem.

Energy Flow within an Ecosystem

Decomposers

Respiration A
A
A A
Heat

Sun Primary Secondary

Producer Tertiary
Ligh Consumer Consumer
s Consumers
t s s

Food Food Food

Respiration Respiration Respiration Respiration

Heat Heat Heat Heat

EquationsAfor production,
– Dead bodies,biomass and energy flow
excretion

Having understood the concepts of energy flow, biomass, production, etc., now
let us understand the general relation between biomass (B) and net production (NP)
B2 = B1 + NP......................................Equation 1.1

Where B2 is the biomass at the end of the time period; B1 is the amount of biomass at
the beginning of the time period; and NP is the change in biomass during the time
period.

NP = B2 - B1 ....................................Equation 1.2

General production equations:

GP = NP + R .......................................Equation 1.3

NP = GP – R ........................................Equation 1.4

Where GP is the gross production; NP the net production and R is respiration.

The average of the energy in vegetation is approximately 21 kJ/gm (1 kJ = 1000

J = 0.24 kilocalorie). The kilocalorie (kcal) is the amount of energy required to heat a
kilogram of water by 1 degree Celsius (from 150 – 160C).

Food chains, food webs and trophic levels

Reservoir ecosystems have three fundamental trophic levels—primary

producers (algae and macrophytes), consumers (Fishes/Birds), and decomposers
(bacteria, fungi, small invertebrates)—that are interconnected by a complex web of
links. Energy passes through these trophic levels primarily along the grazer and detrital
chains and is progressively degraded to heat through metabolic activities. Meanwhile,
the essential elements follow pathways that cycle between these biotic components and
the abiotic components of the ecosystem.

The transfer of energy from the autotrophs (plants) through a series of

organisms that consume and are consumed is called the food chain. An example is

Catfish
Plankton Cyprinids Hawk
e
 At each transfer, a proportion (often as much as 80 or 90 percent) of the potential
energy is lost as heat. Therefore, the shorter the food chain, the greater the energy
available to that population. Food chains are of two basic types: the grazing food chain,
which, starting from a green plant base, goes to grazing herbivores and on to
carnivores; and the detritus food chain, which goes from nonliving organic matter into
micro organisms and then to detritus-feeding organisms (detritivores) and their
predators. Food chains are not isolated sequences; they are interconnected. The
interlocking pattern is often spoken of as the food web. In complex natural communities,
organisms whose nourishment is obtained from the sun by the same number of steps
are said to belong to the same trophic level. Thus, green plants (the producer level)
occupy the first trophic level, herbivores the second trophic level (the primary consumer
level), primary carnivores the third level secondary carnivores the fourth level (the
tertiary consumer level). This trophic classification is one of function and not of species
as such. A given species population may occupy one or more than one trophic level
according to the source of energy actually assimilated. The energy flow through a
trophic level equals the total assimilation (A) at that level, which, in turn, equals the
production (P) of biomass and organic matter plus respiration (R).