Richard Nair lectures

Primary Production

The amount of light energy converted to chemical energy by the autrophs in an ecosystem during a given time period.

gross primary production

the total primary production of an ecosystem

net primary production

The gross primary production of an ecosystem less the energy used by the producers for respiration

Why is NPP important to ecologists

it represents the storage of chemical energy that will be available to consumers in the ecosystem

how can NPP be expressed

energy per unit area per unit time or biomass added per unit area per unit time

net ecosystem production

The gross primary production of an ecosystem minus the energy used by all autrophs and heterotrophs for respiration.

what is the efficacy level of energy transfer between trophic levels

10%

Biogeochemical cycle

any of the various chemical cycles that involve abiotic and biotic components of ecosystems

biological augmentation

in restoration ecology that uses organisms to add essential materials to a degraded ecosystem

limiting nutrient

an element that must be added for production to increase in a particular area

secondary production

the amount of chemical energy in a consumer’s food that is converted to their own new biomass during a given time period

trophic efficiency

the percentage of production transferred from one trophic level to the next higher trophic level