Primary & Secondary Productivity
- During photosynthesis, primary producers (such as plants and algae) convert light energy into chemical energy in biological molecules
- The storing of this chemical energy in the biomass of primary producers is known as primary production
- This can be measured in units of mass per unit area or units of energy per unit area, for example, kg ha–1 (kilograms per hectare) or kJ ha–1 (kilojoules per hectare)
- 1 hectare = 10,000 m2 (i.e. 100m × 100m)
- The chemical energy stored as biomass during primary production is available to organisms in higher trophic levels in the ecosystem
- These organisms are known as consumers
- When consumers ingest producers, the chemical energy in the biomass of the producers is transferred to the consumers
- Like producers, the consumers also store this chemical energy in their biomass
- This process is known as secondary production or the production of consumers
Productivity
- When measuring the production of producers or consumers, it is often useful to measure the average production over a period of time. For example:
- A farmer’s crops might grow very fast in the summer but very slow in the winter (the production of producers often varies during the year due to abiotic factors such as temperature and light availability). It may be useful to the farmer to know the average growth rate of his crops per month or year so that they can estimate how much crop biomass they can expect to harvest
- A cattle farmer may want to know the average biomass they can expect their cows to produce per month or year. They need to know how much secondary production is occurring in a given period of time
- Productivity means the rate of production
- The rate of primary production is known as primary productivity
- The rate of secondary production is known as secondary productivity
- In the examples above, the crop farmer needs to know the primary productivity of his crops and the cattle farmer needs to know the secondary productivity of his cows
- This means primary and secondary productivity is expressed in units of mass per unit area per unit time, for example:
- g m–2 day–1 (grams per square metre per day)
- kg ha–1 yr-1 (kilograms per hectare per year)
- In this case, ‘area’ refers to the area of land that is being studied (this land contains the producers or consumers that are producing the biomass)
- Primary and secondary production can also be expressed in terms of how much chemical energy is stored in the biomass of producers or consumers
- This means primary and secondary productivity can also be expressed in units of energy per unit area per unit time, for example:
- J m–2 day–1 (joules per square metre per day)
- kJ ha-1 yr-1 (kilojoules per hectare per year)
Worked example
A company that produces sunflower oil wants to know the primary productivity of their sunflower crop. They record the primary production of the crop each year for five years. This information is provided in the table below. Calculate the primary productivity of the sunflower crop, giving appropriate units. Draw a graph of the data provided, adding a line showing the primary productivity of the sunflower crop over the five year period.
Step 1: calculate the mean primary production per year
150 + 200 + 175 + 150 + 225 = 900
900 ÷ 5 = 180
Step 2: Give the appropriate units
180 kJ ha-1 yr-1
Step 3: Draw a graph of the data provided, adding a line showing the primary productivity of the sunflower crop over the five year period
Examiner Tip
Don’t forget - in aquatic environments, it may be more suitable to measure primary and secondary productivity per unit volume. For example, for aquatic algae, primary productivity could be given in g m-3 yr-1 (grams per cubic metre per year) or J m-3 yr-1 (joules per cubic metre per year). Or for the fish that consume the algae, secondary productivity could be given in kg m-3 yr-1 (kilograms per cubic metre per year) or kJ m-3 yr-1 (kilojoules per cubic metre per year).