BIOL 1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 29: Semi-Arid Climate, Smog, Eutrophication
14 May 2017
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Document Summary
The amount of solar energy converted to chemical energy (in organic compounds) by an ecosystem"s producers for a given area and during a given time period is called primary production. Expressed in units of energy or units of mass. Primary production of the entire biosphere is roughly 150 billion tonnes of biomass/year. Tropical rainforests most productive terrestrial ecosystems and contribute a large portion of the planet"s overall production of biomass. Coral reefs also have a high productivity but their contribution to global production is small because they cover such a small area. Even though the open ocean has very low production, it contributes the most to the. Earth"s total net primary production because of its huge size it covers about 70% of the. Deserts and semidesert scrub cover about the same amount of surface area as tropical forests but contribute less than 1% of the. Earth"s net primary production, while rainforests contribute 22%.
