ecology equations

• what is meant by photosynthetic efficiency


  this is a measure of a plants ability to absorb light
• what is the formula for photosynthetic efficiency


  energy incorporated into photosynthetic products / total light energy falling on the plant x100
• why doesn't all light energy that falls on a plant get absorbed by photosynthetic pigments


  some light photons will not absorbed due to being the wrong wavelength and some will be reflected
• what is meant by gross primary productivity or GPP


  this is the rate at which chemical energy is formed
• give an example of chemical energy


  food and glucose
• what is most chemical energy used by in a plant


  respiration
• what is meant by net primary productivity or NPP


  this is the left over energy from GPP after respiration and is stored in plants as biomass
• what is meant by biomass


  The mass of living material
• what is the equation that links , GPP , NPP and Respiration


  GPP-Respiration = NPP
• why don't consumers take all of this potential energy


  some vegetation is eaten by other organisms, herbivores are unable to eat all the vegetation such as the roots and the woody parts