Reading Qs p.

60-65
As usual, make an outline and answer the questions.
1. Approximately what percent of the sunlight is actually converted into chemical energy via photosynthesis?
What happens to the rest of the energy?
1%. The rest is reflected back to space. This is either directly off the leaf surface or else absorbed and then re-
radiated back as heat.
2. What is the equation for the process of photosynthesis? Equation for respiration? Relation between the two?
They are reverse processes.
Respiration: 1 C6H12O6 + 6 O2  6 CO2 + 6 H2O
Photosynthesis: 6 CO2 + 6 H2O  1 C6H12O6 + 6 O2
3. What is meant by the term ‘gross primary productivity”? the total amount of solar energy captured by the
plants – i.e. the total amount of photosynthesis
4. What is the unit for gross primary productivity? Either kJ/m2/year or gC/m2/yr
5. What is the relationship between net primary productivity and gross primary productivity? Write the equation.
GPP – R = NPP
6. a. Why do tropical rain forests and marshes/wetlands have high NPP? Sure the tropics get lots of sunlight
(important) but what else is in the photosynthesis equation? They have lots of WATER!!!! NO WATER = NO
PHOTOSYNTHESIS!
b. Why is conservation of rainforests and wetlands therefore very important, that is what ecosystem service do
they provide? They provide carbon sinks – they take in atmospheric carbon diodioxide and produce oxygen
(the “lungs of the planet”)
c. Why is the NPP of a subtropical desert so low despite the fact that it has lots of sunlight?
Not enough water so very little photosynthesis
7. A way to determine the GPP, NPP and R is to use the dark and light method.
a) Will the plants in the dark area gain or lose mass? Explain. Lose mass – they will burn their stored sugar
and release carbon dioxide
b) Will the plants left in the light gain or lose mass? Explain. Both. But they will have a NET gain in mass if
the conditions are right. However if there is not enoguht light, they could lose mass since RESPIRATION
OCCURS in the light and the dark.
c) State how the NPP, GPP and R could be calculated using the data.
1. measure the change in mass of the plants in the dark (this is respiration). 2. For an EQUAL AMOUNT of
plant material in the light, measure the increase in plant mass (this is NPP). Then use the equation GPP – R =
NPP to find GPP.
8. Look at the chart of net primary productivity on page 64. Under what conditions is productivity highest?
Productivity is highest when it is warm, wet, and there is lots of light. (coral reefs, wetlands, and tropical
rainforest)
9. The open ocean does not contain as much life per unit area as most terrestrial locations, but is responsible for
a large amount of the Earth’s NPP (on a percent basis it is the highest!). Why?
Hint: the units of NPP (on a per unit time basis) are grams of carbon/m2. Think about how much of the
world’s surface is open ocean. http://home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/er/Resources/Image1057.gif Check out for a
graph showing this. MOST of the world is covered in ocean. So even though the population density is low,
there is so much total volume (near the surface) that this makes much more total photosynthesis than anywhere
else.
10. What is the difference between standing crop and productivity? Standing crop is the amount of biomass. This
is equivalent to the AMOUNT of energy at one time. Productivity is the RATE of energy/biomass production.

11. What is biomass? How is it that old growth boreal forests can have a high biomass but a very low
productivity? Biomass is the mass of living organisms.

Productivity is low in boreal forests due to low temperatures and somewhat low precipitation. However, they
grow slowly over a very long time and thus accumulate a lot of mass.

12. a. In terms of you being a consumer, you could be a primary consumer, secondary consumer or more. Why is
being only a primary consumer (i.e. a vegetarian) considered to have a lower ecological footprint than being a
secondary consumer (i.e. eating meat). Because it would take the same amount of land to feed a cow or pig
or other meat source. Actually it would take more since energy is lost in the feeding of the livestock and then
feeding them to you. So not only do you lose MOST of the energy from the cropland as lost heat energy, but
you also have to keep the livestick on different land.

b. The 10% rule says that if an acre of land can produce 1000 kg of soybeans, then how much beef could you
produce on the same land if you fed the soybeans to cattle rather than eating them yourself (and of course this
takes up even MORE space since the cattle can’t live on the same acre as the soybeans!). 100 kg of beef
(actually less)

c. Now consider the fact that soybeans can be up to 2.5 times as calorie-dense as beef. (I suppose this assumes
very lean beef) yet they still provide LOTS of protein. How many times more food calories can you grow on
this acre as a primary consumer rather than a secondary consumer? 25 times more food calories! Each acre of
land is 10 times as productive, and if the food itself is 2.5 times as calorie-dense the you get a LOT more food
for your land! Now you know why the Eco Footprint website really placed a high value on eating less meat!