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e. In ecology, the term productivity refers to the rate of generation of biomass in an ecosystem, usually expressed in units of mass per volume (unit surface) per unit of time, such as grams per square metre per day (g m −2 d −1). The unit of mass can relate to dry matter or to the mass of generated carbon. The productivity of autotrophs ...
Overview. Primary production is the production of chemical energy in organic compounds by living organisms. The main source of this energy is sunlight but a minute fraction of primary production is driven by lithotrophic organisms using the chemical energy of inorganic molecules. The Calvin cycle of photosynthesis.
Typical units are grams per square meter per year or calories per square meter per year. As with the others, this graph shows producers at the bottom and higher trophic levels on top. When an ecosystem is healthy, this graph produces a standard ecological pyramid. This is because, in order for the ecosystem to sustain itself, there must be more ...
Ecological efficiency is the exploitation efficiency multiplied by the assimilation efficiency multiplied by the net production efficiency, which is equivalent to the amount of consumer production divided by the amount of prey production ( ) Theoretically, it is easy to calculate ecological efficiency using the mathematical relationships above.
Energy flow is the flow of energy through living things within an ecosystem. [1] All living organisms can be organized into producers and consumers, and those producers and consumers can further be organized into a food chain. [2][3] Each of the levels within the food chain is a trophic level. [1] In order to more efficiently show the quantity ...
Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework. This science examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their components such as chemicals, bedrock, soil, plants, and animals. Ecosystem ecology examines physical and ...
Chemical ecology is a vast and interdisciplinary field utilizing biochemistry, biology, ecology, and organic chemistry for explaining observed interactions of living things and their environment through chemical compounds (e.g. ecosystem resilience and biodiversity). [1][2] Early examples of the field trace back to experiments with the same ...
In particular, biogeochemistry is the study of biogeochemical cycles, the cycles of chemical elements such as carbon and nitrogen, and their interactions with and incorporation into living things transported through earth scale biological systems in space and time. The field focuses on chemical cycles which are either driven by or influence ...