Primary Production
Primary producers -
- assimilate energy through photosynthesis
Photosynthesis -
- the use of solar energy to combine CO2 and water into simple sugars
6 CO2 + 6 H2O + solar energy ? C6H12O6 + 6 O2
Because of inefficiencies in many of the biochemical rxn, less than 1/3 of the light energy absorbed by photosynthetic pigments appears in carbohydrate molecules
If photosynthesis was the only process occurring in plants then:
Plant production = rate of accumulation of carbohydrates
But, plants also respire, using energy for maintenance