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In ecology, primary production is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis , which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through chemosynthesis , which uses the oxidation or reduction of inorganic chemical compounds as its source ...
Gross primary production occurs by photosynthesis. This is the main way that primary producers get energy and make it available to other forms of life. Plants, many corals (by means of intracellular algae), some bacteria (cyanobacteria), and algae do this. During photosynthesis, primary producers receive energy from the sun and use it to ...
The energy converted through photosynthesis is carried through the trophic levels of an ecosystem as organisms consume members of lower trophic levels. Primary production can be broken down into gross and net primary production. Gross primary production is a measure of the energy that a photoautotroph harvests from the sun.
The connection between plant productivity and biodiversity is a significant topic in ecology, although it has been controversial for decades. Both productivity and species diversity are constricted by other variables such as climate, ecosystem type, and land use intensity. [ 24 ]
Secondary production is the use of energy stored in plants converted by consumers to their own biomass. Different ecosystems have different levels of consumers, all end with one top consumer. Most energy is stored in organic matter of plants, and as the consumers eat these plants they take up this energy.
For example, predators eating herbivores indirectly influence the control and regulation of primary production in plants. Although the predators do not eat the plants directly, they regulate the population of herbivores that are directly linked to plant trophism. The net effect of direct and indirect relations is called trophic cascades.
A tropical plant community on Diego Garcia Rangeland monitoring using Parker 3-step Method, Okanagan Washington 2002. Plant ecology is a subdiscipline of ecology that studies the distribution and abundance of plants, the effects of environmental factors upon the abundance of plants, and the interactions among plants and between plants and other organisms. [1]
Food chain in a Swedish lake. Osprey feed on northern pike, which in turn feed on perch which eat bleak which eat crustaceans.. A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web, often starting with an autotroph (such as grass or algae), also called a producer, and typically ending at an apex predator (such as grizzly bears or killer whales), detritivore (such as earthworms and woodlice ...