SHW - Pg. 13

10. Why is the open ocean so low in productivity?
- The Average NPP of the Ocean is so low because the ocean’s volume (mostly useless space), in comparison to the amount of producers, is massive. Therefore the NPP is very small.

11. What is secondary productivity?
- The rate at which all the heterotrophy in an ecosystem incorporate organic material into new biomass which can be equated to chemical energy.

12. What happens to the size in each level in the idealized pyramid as energy is transferred through the trophic levels?
- 80–95% of the energy available at one trophic level is not transferred to the next

13. Explain what happens to the energy and biomass as it is passed through the trophic levels?
- This loss is multiplied over the length of a food chain. If 10% of energy is transferred from primary producers to primary consumers, and 10% of that energy is transferred to secondary consumers, then only 1% of net primary production is available to secondary consumers. *Trophic efficiencies must always be less than production efficiencies because they take into account not only the energy lost through respiration and contained in feces, but also the energy in organic material at lower trophic levels that is not consumed.

14. Why is it essential that elements move through biogeochemical cycles in the ecosystem?
- It is essential in order to move nutrients among organic and inorganic compartment and recycle essential chemical elements.

15. What are the major processes that move carbon through the ecosystem?
- Fossilization, Erosion, Respiration, Decomposition, Excretion, Weathering, Assimilation.

16. What is the impact of combustion on the carbon cycle?
- More Carbon Dioxide is readily available, and so there is an increase in Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. Plants have more supply of Carbon Dioxide and so the animals, through assimilation, gain more carbon, and therefore excess carbon is circulated in the carbon cycle.