Productivity (ecology)

About: Productivity (ecology) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 6011 publications have been published within this topic receiving 226886 citations. The topic is also known as: production & biological productivity.

Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems

Abstract: Preface 1 Prologue 2 Water as a Substance 3 Rivers and Lakes - Their Distribution, Origins, and Forms 4 Water Economy 5 Light in Inland Waters 6 Fate of Heat 7 Water Movements 8 Structure and Productivity of Aquatic Ecosystems 9 Oxygen 10 Salinity of Inland Waters 11 The Inorganic Carbon Complex 12 The Nitrogen Cycle 13 The Phosphorus Cycle 14 Iron, Sulfer, and Silica Cycles 15 Planktonic Communities: Algae and Cyanobacteria 16 Plantonic Communities: Zooplankton and their Interactions with Fish 17 Bacterioplankton 18 Land-Water Interfaces: Larger Plants 19 Land-Water Interfaces: Attached Microorganisms, Littoral Algae, and Zooplankton 20 Shallow Lakes and Ponds 21 Sediments and Microflora 22 Benthic Animals and Fish Communities 23 Detrirus: Organic Carbon Cycling and Ecosystem Metabolism 24 Past Productivity: Paleolimnology 25 The Ontogeny of Inland Aquatic Ecosystmes 26 Inland waters: Understanding is Essential for the Future References Appendix Index

The Ecological Role of Water-Column Microbes in the Sea*

Abstract: Recently developed techniques for estimating bacterial biomass and productivity indicate that bacterial biomass in the sea is related to phytoplankton concentration and that bacteria utilise 10 to 50 % of carbon fixed by photosynthesis. Evidence is presented to suggest that numbers of free bacteria are controlled by nanoplankton~c heterotrophic flagellates which are ubiquitous in the marine water column. The flagellates in turn are preyed upon by microzooplankton. Heterotrophic flagellates and microzooplankton cover the same size range as the phytoplankton, thus providing the means for returning some energy from the 'microbial loop' to the conventional planktonic food chain.

Europe-wide reduction in primary productivity caused by the heat and drought in 2003

Abstract: Future climate warming is expected to enhance plant growth in temperate ecosystems and to increase carbon sequestration. But although severe regional heatwaves may become more frequent in a changing climate their impact on terrestrial carbon cycling is unclear. Here we report measurements of ecosystem carbon dioxide fluxes, remotely sensed radiation absorbed by plants, and country-level crop yields taken during the European heatwave in 2003.We use a terrestrial biosphere simulation model to assess continental-scale changes in primary productivity during 2003, and their consequences for the net carbon balance. We estimate a 30 per cent reduction in gross primary productivity over Europe, which resulted in a strong anomalous net source of carbon dioxide (0.5 Pg Cyr21) to the atmosphere and reversed the effect of four years of net ecosystem carbon sequestration. Our results suggest that productivity reduction in eastern and western Europe can be explained by rainfall deficit and extreme summer heat, respectively. We also find that ecosystem respiration decreased together with gross primary productivity, rather than accelerating with the temperature rise. Model results, corroborated by historical records of crop yields, suggest that such a reduction in Europe's primary productivity is unprecedented during the last century. An increase in future drought events could turn temperate ecosystems into carbon sources, contributing to positive carbon-climate feedbacks already anticipated in the tropics and at high latitudes.

Productivity and sustainability influenced by biodiversity in grassland ecosystems

Abstract: THE functioning and sustainability of ecosystems may depend on their biological diversity1–8. Elton's9 hypothesis that more diverse ecosystems are more stable has received much attention1,3,6,7,10–14, but Darwin's proposal6,15 that more diverse plant communities are more productive, and the related conjectures4,5,16,17 that they have lower nutrient losses and more sustainable soils, are less well studied4–6,8,17,18. Here we use a well-replicated field experiment, in which species diversity was directly controlled, to show that ecosystem productivity in 147 grassland plots increased significantly with plant biodiversity. Moreover, the main limiting nutrient, soil mineral nitrogen, was utilized more completely when there was a greater diversity of species, leading to lower leaching loss of nitrogen from these ecosystems. Similarly, in nearby native grassland, plant productivity and soil nitrogen utilization increased with increasing plant species richness. This supports the diversity–productivity and diversity–sustainability hypotheses. Our results demonstrate that the loss of species threatens ecosystem functioning and sustainability.

Plant diversity and productivity experiments in european grasslands

Abstract: At eight European field sites, the impact of loss of plant diversity on primary productivity was simulated by synthesizing grassland communities with different numbers of plant species. Results differed in detail at each location, but there was an overall log-linear reduction of average aboveground biomass with loss of species. For a given number of species, communities with fewer functional groups were less productive. These diversity effects occurred along with differences associated with species composition and geographic location. Niche complementarity and positive species interactions appear to play a role in generating diversity-productivity relationships within sites in addition to sampling from the species pool.