Primary productivity

“The open ocean is

a biological desert.”
 Primary Production

Global chlorophyll concentrations for Oct. 2000

 Phytoplankton concentration in the
surface water of ocean – satellite picture
 Primary productivity
• Primary productivity is the amount
of carbon (organic matter)
produced by organisms
– Mostly through photosynthesis
• Energy source = solar radiation
– Also includes chemosynthesis
• Energy source = chemical reactions
 Primary Producers
Common Name
Blue-green algae (cyanobacteria)
Red algae
Brown algae
Green algae
Coccolithophorids
Dinoflagellates
Diatoms
Seagrass
 Oceanic photosynthetic
productivity
• Controlling factors affecting
photosynthetic productivity:
– Availability of nutrients
• Nitrates
• Phosphates
• Iron
– Amount of sunlight
• Varies daily and seasonally
• Sunlight strong enough to support
photosynthesis occurs only to a depth of 100
meters (euphotic zone)
 Needs for Nitrogen
 Necessary for the production of proteins,
nucleic acids, and ATP
 In most habitats, N is the limiting nutrient
 Supply
 Runoff or Atmospheric Deposition
 Recycled

Ammonium Phytoplankton Zooplankton

(Excretion)
Phosphorous
 Critical to energy cycling – i.e., ATP
 Usually less limiting than N, but there
are exceptions
 Coral reefs: carbonate sediments adsorb P
from the water column
Light Quality and Quantity

 Light penetrates to different depths based on

the angle of incidence (and seasonality)
 Light of different colors penetrates differently
 Depth to which light penetrates is a function of
the depth of water, amount of phytoplankton,
transparency of the water and the differential
absorption by other things (e.g., sediments,
organic matter)
Light Quantity and Quality
 Locations of maximum
photosynthetic productivity
• Coastlines
– Abundant supply of nutrients from land
– Water shallow enough for light to penetrate
all the way to the sea floor
• Upwelling areas
– Cool, nutrient-rich deep water is brought to
the sunlit surface
Upwelling
Coastal upwelling
 Water color and life in the
ocean
• Ocean color is influenced by:
– The amount of turbidity from runoff
– The amount of photosynthetic pigment, which
corresponds to the amount of productivity
• Yellow-green = highly productive water
– Found in coastal and upwelling areas
(eutrophic)
• Clear indigo blue = low productivity water
– Found in the tropics and open ocean
(oligotrophic)
Table 1. Average net primary production and biomass of aquatic
habitats. Data from R.H. Whittaker and G.E. Likens, Human Ecol. 1:
357-369 (1973).

Habitat Net primary

Production
(g C/m2/yr)
Coral Reefs 2000
Kelp Bed 1900
Estuaries 1800
Seagrass Beds 1000
Mangrove Swamp 500
Lakes & streams 500
Continental Shelf 360
Upwelling 250
Open ocean 50
Productivity varies TEMPORALLY and
SPATIALLY:
• generally highest over continental shelves; over
the shelf itself it is highest just offshore
• seasonality more pronounced at high latitudes
• at mid latitudes, productivity peaks both spring
and fall

Observations from September 1997 through July 2005

Thermocline

depth

Temperature profile
 Regional productivity
• Photosynthetic productivity varies due
to:
– Amount of sunlight
– Availability of nutrients
• Thermocline (a layer of rapidly changing
temperature) limits nutrient supply
• Examine three open ocean regions:
1. Polar oceans (>60° latitude)
2. Tropical oceans (<30° latitude)
3. Temperate oceans (30-60° latitude)
 Productivity in tropical,
temperate, and polar oceans

Zooplankton
Productivity polar oceans
Productivity in tropical oceans
Productivity in temperate
oceans
Photosynthesis vs. Light
Intensity
Differences Among Species
 General Trends
Light inhibition (photoinhibition) is
caused by too much light saturating the
photosynthetic centers (generating too
much energy which then has to be
disposed of) -- this can damage the cell.
Also ultraviolet radiation at surface is
damaging.
R=P
 Compensation Depth
 Depth where for a given algal cell,
photosynthesis = respiration
 An Individual, not a population level
property
 Net Production = 0
 Usually where light is 1% of the surface
intensity, maybe 150 m
 Varies spatially with water clarity
Compensation Point/Depth
 Primary Productivity
• Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)
– The rate of production of organic matter from
inorganic materials by autotrophic organisms
• Respiration (R)
– The rate of consumption of organic matter
(conversion to inorganic matter) by organisms.
• Net Primary Productivity (NPP)
– The net rate of organic matter produced as a
consequence of both GPP and R.
Primary Productivity

NPP = GPP - R
 Light & Dark Experiments

Photosynthesis: zooplankton
phytoplankton
light + 6CO2 + 6H2O C6H12O6 + 6O2

Respiration:
C6H12O6 + 6O2 6CO2 + 6H2O decomposition
 dark bottle light bottle

respiration photosynthesis + respiration

weight
Calculating Primary Productivity
Assume that our incubation period was 1 hour.
Measured oxygen concentrations:
Initial bottle = 8 mg O2 /L
Light bottle = 10 mg O2 /L
Dark bottle = 5 mg O2 /L

(Light - Initial) = (10 - 8) = 2 mg/L/hr = (GPP - R) = NPP

(Initial - Dark) = (8 - 5) = 3 mg/L/hr = Respiration
(Light - Dark) = (10 - 5) = 5 mg/L/hr = (NPP + R) = GPP
Actual productivity
Environmental
Factors Affecting
Primary Production

(eutrophication)
 Inquiry

1. Why is the open ocean a biological desert?

2. Where are the most productive regions located?
3. Describe productivity in temperate, polar and
tropical water.
4. Why does the zooplankton lag behind the
phytoplankton?
5. If you want to catch microplankton, what size
mesh net do you need?
6. Why can’t plants grow below the compensation
depth?
7. Why does eutrophication sometimes result in
mass fish kills?