Primary Productivity

Question 1

What is biomass?

Answer 1

the mass of living material
present at any time, expressed as grams
per unit area or volume

Question 2

What is productivity?

Answer 2

the rate of production of
living material per unit time per unit area
or volume

Question 3

What is primary productivity?

Answer 3

productivity due to
Photosynthesis

Question 4

What are secondary consumers?

Answer 4

productivity due to
consumers of primary producers

Question 5

What is a food chain?

Answer 5

linear sequence showing
which organisms consume which other
organisms, making a series of trophic levels

Question 6

What is a food web?

Answer 6

more complex diagram showing feeding relationships among organisms, not restricted to a linear hierarchy

Question 7

What is the equation for photosynthesis?

Answer 7

6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2

Question 8

What are autotrophs?

Answer 8

use pigments to capture the energy in sunlight

Question 9

What is cellular respiration?

Answer 9

biological fuels are oxidised in the presence of an inorganic electron acceptor, such as oxygen, to drive the bulk production of adenosine triphosphate, which contains energy.

Question 10

What factors effect primary production?

Answer 10

1. light
   2.nutrients

Question 11

What is Nutrients in Marine environments?

Answer 11

particularly nitrate (most important) and phosphate

Question 12

What are reasons a marine environment might not get enough sunight?

Answer 12

: Based on weather e.g., cloudy days
Seasonally: e.g., winter at temperate/high latitudes
Spatially: e.g. suspended sediment at surface
Self-shading: When dense phytoplankton at surface limit light availability to organism living below

Question 13

What does primary production depend on?

Answer 13

light intensity and depth of light penetration

Question 14

Where is the highest light intensity in the ocean?

Answer 14

The epipelagic zone

Question 15

Which is has more percentage of light?
Coastal waters or open waters

Answer 15

open waters

Question 16

Where can most nutrients reach in the ocean?

Answer 16

the photic zone, any other zone recomposes nutrients called remineralizing

Question 17

Which geographic parts of the marine world ave the highest primary production?

Answer 17

Continental shelf and open-ocean upwelling

Question 18

Which geographic parts of the marine world have the lowest primary production?

Answer 18

Central ocean, gyre centers

Question 19

What are some terrestrial sources for nutrients?

Answer 19

River input
Aeolian deposition

Question 20

What are some atnospheric sources for nutrients?

Answer 20

Dissolution of gases, particulates
N2: Nitrogen fixation

Question 21

What are some marine sources for nutrients?

Answer 21

Nutrient remineralization: Breakdown of organic material into inorganic constituents via decomposition
The Microbial Loop
Nutrient upwelling from depth
Mixing

Question 22

What is Gross primary productivity GPP?

Answer 22

total carbon fixed during photosynthesis

Question 23

What is Net primary productivity NPP?

Answer 23

total carbon fixed during photosynthesis minus that part which is respired - NPP is what is available to higher trophic levels.

Question 24

What is the RadioCarbon Technique?

Answer 24

add known amount of 14C-labeled bicarbonate to solution with phytoplankton
after a time: filter phytoplankton, and do counts of 14C-emitted β particles in a scintillation counter.
14C is taken up more slowly than much more common stable isotope 12C.

Question 25

What is the satellite approach?

Answer 25

Satellites can use photometers specific to wavelength to measure chlorophyll.
Need ground truthing to get relationship between chlorophyll concentration and primary production
varies with region