Gross primary productivity (GPP) is the total amount of biological productivity in a region or ecosystem, which refers to the total rate of organic carbon production by autotrophs. It is the rate at which autotrophs produce biomass or energy, while net primary production is the energy-yielding oxidation of organic matter.
Methods for directly measuring photosynthetic rates are limited and not suitable for broad applications. The traditional 14 C method is most frequently applied to communities of fast-growing phytoplankton in aquatic ecosystems. Gross primary productivity is the rate at which energy is converted to organic substances by photosynthetic producers (photoautotrophs), which obtain energy and nutrients by harnessing sunlight and chemosynthetic processes.
Oxygen measurement has been used as a measure of productivity primarily for aquatic ecosystems. Gross primary productivity is the total rate of photosynthesis, including organic matter used up in respiration during the measurement period. Aquatic ecosystem primary productivity is most dependent on factors like nutrient availability, sunlight, and temperature.
Aquatic ecosystems are responsible for about 50% of global productivity and mitigate climate change by taking up a substantial fraction of energy. Basic or primary productivity of an ecological system, community, or any part thereof is defined as the rate at which radiant energy is stored by.
Gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration provide insights into energy dynamics, food chains, and other aspects of an ecosystem.
📹 ESS 2.3 GPP and NPP
What does the GPP value represent?
Gross primary production (GPP) is the amount of chemical energy created by primary producers in a given time, typically expressed as carbon biomass. Some of this energy is used for cellular respiration and tissue maintenance, while the remaining fixed energy is known as net primary production (NPP). Net primary production is the rate at which all autotrophs in an ecosystem produce net useful chemical energy, which is available for consumption by herbivores.
Both gross and net primary production are typically expressed in units of mass per unit area per unit time interval, with mass of carbon per unit area per year being the most common unit of measurement in terrestrial ecosystems. The terms “production” and “productivity” are sometimes used interchangeably, but the quantity of material produced and the rate at which it is produced are more commonly used.
What is the GPP of an ecosystem?
The totality of carbon compounds produced by plants within an ecosystem over a specified period is defined as photosynthesis.
What is productivity in the aquatic environment?
Primary production is the process of synthesis of organic material from inorganic molecules, primarily dominated by photosynthesis. This process involves organisms synthesizing organic molecules from sunlight, H2O, and CO2. Aquatic primary productivity involves the production of organic matter in aquatic ecosystems like oceans, lakes, and rivers, while terrestrial primary productivity occurs in terrestrial ecosystems like forests, grasslands, and wetlands.
Primary production is divided into Net Primary Production (NPP) and Gross Primary Production (GPP), with Gross Primary Production measuring all carbon assimilated into organic molecules by primary producers. Net primary production measures the organic molecules by primary producers, but does not include organic molecules broken down for biological processes like respiration. Photoautotrophs are organisms that rely on light energy to fix carbon and participate in primary production.
What does GPP tell us?
The gross primary production (GPP) of an ecosystem represents the total energy accumulated by primary producers, providing insight into the rate at which these organisms obtain and transform this energy.
What is the difference between GPP and NPP?
The term gross primary production (GPP) is used to describe the total rate of material production, whereas the term net primary production (NPP) is used to describe the excess accumulation that occurs due to respiration. Photosynthesis employs specific wavelengths of solar radiation, while respiration is of vital importance to all living organisms. Respiration can occur in the absence of light.
What best describes GPP?
Gross primary production (GPP) is the amount of chemical energy created by primary producers in a given time, typically expressed as carbon biomass. Some of this energy is used for cellular respiration and tissue maintenance, while the remaining fixed energy is known as net primary production (NPP). Net primary production is the rate at which all autotrophs in an ecosystem produce net useful chemical energy, which is available for consumption by herbivores.
Both gross and net primary production are typically expressed in units of mass per unit area per unit time interval, with mass of carbon per unit area per year being the most common unit of measurement in terrestrial ecosystems. The terms “production” and “productivity” are sometimes used interchangeably, but the quantity of material produced and the rate at which it is produced are more commonly used.
How to measure productivity in an aquatic ecosystem?
Solar radiation plays a crucial role in photosynthesis, facilitating the conversion of water, carbon dioxide, and minerals into organic matter. The productivity of water is quantified through the utilisation of light and dark oxygen bottle methodologies, with the results expressed in grams of carbon per litre per time (hour or day).
What does GPP mean?
General Physical Preparation (GPP) is a crucial phase in training that prepares athletes for Specific Physical Preparation (SPP). It involves general conditioning exercises to improve strength, speed, endurance, flexibility, structure, and skill. GPP is typically performed in the off-season, with a lower level of maintenance during the season when SPP is pursued. It helps prevent imbalances and boredom by conditioning the body to work. GPP is the initial stage of training, starting every cycle from the macro-, meso-, and microcycle after restoration and recovery.
It consists of general preparatory and specialized conditioning exercises to work all major muscles and joints. This period is also used for rehabilitation of injured muscles and joints, strengthening or bringing up to par lagging muscles, and improving technique. For high-level and elite athletes in endurance sports, GPP accounts for 70-80% of the training time through Long Slow Distance.
What is the concept of GPP?
Terrestrial ecosystems rely on the sun’s energy to support the growth and metabolism of their organisms. Land plants, or autotrophs, are terrestrial primary producers that manufacture organic molecules through photosynthesis from raw inorganic materials. These compounds lock up the sun’s energy in chemical bonds, providing an energy currency accessible to heterotrophs, organisms that consume rather than produce organic molecules. Primary producers are essential vehicles for energy transfer from the sun to consumers, securing energy that can be passed from one consumer to another.
Ecosystem ecologists have long been interested in two related metrics of terrestrial primary production: gross primary production (GPP) and net primary production (NPP). GPP supports plant autotrophic respiration, while the remainder is allocated to net primary production (NPP) of plant structural biomass, labile carbohydrates, and volatile organic compounds used in plant defense and signaling. Terrestrial GPP relates to NPP by comparing it to standing biomass allocation for a 90-year-old Michigan forest.
What is the primary productivity of the aquatic ecosystem?
The synthesis of organic compounds from water’s inorganic components by plants in sunlight represents the initial stage of primary production in aquatic ecosystems.
What is productivity in the marine ecosystem?
Ocean productivity is primarily the production of organic matter by phytoplankton, which are photoautotrophs that convert inorganic to organic carbon. These plants supply this organic carbon to diverse heterotrophs, such as bacteria, zooplankton, nekton, and benthos. Ocean productivity is characterized by various nested cycles of carbon, including gross primary production (GPP), net primary production (NPP), secondary production (SP), and net ecosystem production (NEP).
GPP refers to the total rate of organic carbon production by autotrophs, while respiration refers to the energy-yielding oxidation of organic carbon back to carbon dioxide. Net primary production (NPP) is GPP minus the autotrophs’ own rate of respiration, indicating the rate at which the full metabolism of phytoplankton produces biomass. Secondary production (SP) typically refers to the growth rate of heterotrophic biomass, with only a small fraction of organic matter used for growth. Fisheries rely on SP and depend on both NPP and the efficiency of organic matter transfer up the foodweb.
Net ecosystem production (NEP) is GPP minus respiration by all organisms in the ecosystem, with the value depending on the boundaries defined for the ecosystem. For example, NEP for the entire ocean is roughly equivalent to the slow burial of organic matter in sediments minus the rate of organic matter entering from the continents.
Productivity in the surface ocean is connected to nutrient cycling, with the blue cycle representing net ecosystem production (NEP), the red cycle representing the fate of organic matter produced in the surface ocean, and the green cycle representing internal respiration of phytoplankton. These nested cycles result in gross primary production (GPP) representing gross photosynthesis and net primary production (NPP) representing phytoplankton biomass production, which forms the basis of the food web. While new nutrient supply and export production are ultimately linked by mass balance, there may be imbalances on small scales of space and time, allowing for brief accumulations of biomass.
📹 56 Productivity in aquatic ecosystems
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