A student writes three statements in her notebook…
Contributed by StemPy LabTry it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A student writes three statements in her notebook.
- The gross primary productivity is the biomass that the herbivores can eat.
- The net primary productivity is the GPP plus the respiration of the plants.
- The oceans make most of the NPP of the biosphere, because they cover most of the surface.
Say what is wrong in each one, and write it correctly.
Need a reminder? The key ideaShow
, where is the respiration of the plants. Productivity is a rate, in or . The NPP is the biomass available to the herbivores and the decomposers. One kilocalorie is .
The worked solution
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. (a) The herbivores get the net primary productivity. The plants use a part of the GPP in respiration before any of it can be eaten.
Step 2. (b) The respiration is subtracted: .
Step 3. (c) The oceans cover about of the surface, but make only about of the billion tons, which is about a third. The productivity of the ocean for each unit of area is low.
Answer: (a) the herbivores get the NPP; (b) NPP GPP ; (c) the oceans make about a third of the NPP, not most.
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