1.8 Primary Productivity
Do three things: a photo challenge, a hands-on lab, and a quick check.
Unit 1 · Topic 1.8
Which ecosystem is best at turning sunlight into food?
Do 1Which has more NPP?
Compare two places. Pick the one with higher net primary productivity per square meter.
Do 2NPP calculator
NPP, kcal/m²/yr
Share of GPP left for consumers
Do 3Quick check
Your topic score
Key terms
- Primary productivity
- The rate at which producers capture energy and store it as organic matter.
- GPP
- Gross primary productivity: all the energy producers capture.
- Respiration (R)
- Energy producers use for their own life processes.
- NPP
- Net primary productivity: GPP minus respiration, the energy available to consumers.
- Units
- Productivity is a rate, such as kcal per square meter per year.
Photo credits
- Desert dunes, Namibia. Photo: Rui Ornelas (CC BY 2.0)
- Grassland. Photo: Jeff Belmonte (CC BY 2.0)
- Sunlight through leaves. Photo: planes, space, nature (Public domain)
- Marsh with egret. Photo: USFWS Pacific Southwest Region (CC BY 2.0)
- Open ocean. Photo: JJ Skys the Limit (CC0)
- Tropical rainforest canopy. Photo: halseike (CC BY 2.0)
- Coral reef. Photo: Derek Keats (CC BY 2.0)
- Arctic tundra. Photo: USFWS Headquarters (CC BY 2.0)
- Wheat field at sunrise. Photo: sagesolar (CC BY 2.0)
Photos are public domain, CC0, or CC BY. Diagrams and data are original to Green Flask Science.
Teaching AP Environmental Science?
The Green Flask Science™ full-year APES bundle covers all nine units with slides, guided notes, original activities, simulations, and quiz and test banks.