Productivity

Connecting Links #4

Productivity of Ecosystems
Productivity the average amount of
new plant biomass produced each
year in a designated area
Influenced by multiple factors

Productivity

Factors that influence productivity

Sunlight
Water
Carbon dioxide
Nutrients
Temperature

Question: Which factors do you think

would make the most productive
ecosystem? What type of ecosystem
would this be?

Changing Ecosystems

Productive ecosystems do not always

make good farmland
Plants and animals from other
ecosystems do not always translate
Replacing one ecosystem with another
could cause problems

Problems with Ecosystems

Desertification expanding deserts

and destruction of land caused by
human activity
Loss of water
Loss of producers

Agriculture
Goal of agriculture to create food
chains where there are no more than
two links between plants and people
How do they accomplish this?

Monoculture growth of a single crop in a

large area

Question: How could this affect the

population of primary consumers?

Bioaccumulation
Also known as biological magnification
The phenomenon where biological
substances (i.e. toxins) collect in
organisms in higher concentration as
they move toward the top of the food
chain

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