What does primary productivity measure in an ecosystem?

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What does primary productivity measure in an ecosystem?

Primary productivity measures how quickly producers capture light energy and convert it into living biomass. In ecological terms, it’s the rate at which energy from the sun is stored as organic matter by photosynthesis, usually expressed as energy or carbon fixed per unit area per time. It can be described as gross primary production—the total amount of energy fixed—and net primary production, which is what remains after the plants use some energy for their own respiration. This concept isn't about the total amount of biomass at a moment (that would be a stock, not a rate), nor about the rate of decomposition, nor about how many primary consumers there are.

Primary productivity measures how quickly producers capture light energy and convert it into living biomass. In ecological terms, it’s the rate at which energy from the sun is stored as organic matter by photosynthesis, usually expressed as energy or carbon fixed per unit area per time. It can be described as gross primary production—the total amount of energy fixed—and net primary production, which is what remains after the plants use some energy for their own respiration. This concept isn't about the total amount of biomass at a moment (that would be a stock, not a rate), nor about the rate of decomposition, nor about how many primary consumers there are.

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