BIOL 1020 Lecture Notes - Human Overpopulation, Ecosystem Services, Primary Production
Document Summary
Chapter 56 ecosystems and global ecology (only 56. 2, 56. 4 and 56. 5!!!) All energy utilized by organisms come from the sun fossil fuels is based on reserves of captured solar energy locked up in the remains of organisms that lived a million years ago. Energy enters ecosystems by way of plants and other photosynthetic organisms. Gross primary product rate at which energy is incorporated into the bodies of photosynthetic organisms. Primary producers use some of the accumulated energy for their own metabolism and the rest is stored in their bodies or used for growth and reproduction. Net primary production energy available to organisms that eat primary producers. Gross primary production the energy expended by the primary producers during their metabolism. Only the energy of an organism"s net production is available to other organisms that consume it. Geographic distribution of the energy assimilated by primary producers reflects the distribution of land masses, temperature and moisture on earth.
