primary producer

Examples of primary producer in the following topics:

• Protists as Primary Producers, Food Sources, and Symbionts

  • Alternatively, photosynthetic protists serve as producers of nutrition for other organisms.
  • As primary producers, protists feed a large proportion of the world's aquatic species.
  • (On land, terrestrial plants serve as primary producers. ) In fact, approximately one-quarter of the world's photosynthesis is conducted by protists, particularly dinoflagellates, diatoms, and multicellular algae.

• Productivity within Trophic Levels

  • For example, in the English Channel ecosystem, the primary producers account for a biomass of 4 g/m2 (grams per meter squared), while the primary consumers exhibit a biomass of 21 g/m2.
  • The productivity of the primary producers is especially important in any ecosystem because these organisms bring energy to other living organisms by photoautotrophy or chemoautotrophy.
  • The rate at which photosynthetic primary producers incorporate energy from the sun is called gross primary productivity.
  • In this ecosystem, the total energy accumulated by the primary producers was shown to be 20,810 kcal/m2/yr.
  • Net primary productivity is the energy that remains in the primary producers after accounting for the organisms' respiration and heat loss.

• Food Chains and Food Webs

  • In many ecosystems, the bottom of the food chain consists of photosynthetic organisms, such as plants or phytoplankton, known as primary producers.
  • The organisms that consume the primary producers are herbivores: the primary consumers.
  • He found that the primary producers generated 20,819 kcal/m2/yr (kilocalories per square meter per year), the primary consumers generated 3368 kcal/m2/yr, the secondary consumers generated 383 kcal/m2/yr, and the tertiary consumers only generated 21 kcal/m2/yr.
  • Primary producers are outlined in green, primary consumers in orange, secondary consumers in blue, and tertiary (apex) consumers in purple.
  • The opossum shrimp eats both primary producers and primary consumers; it is, therefore, both a primary consumer and a secondary consumer.

• Ecological Pyramids

  • Even in smaller numbers, primary producers in forests are still capable of supporting other trophic levels.
  • The plants (primary producers) of the Silver Springs ecosystem make up a large percentage of the biomass found there.
  • However, the phytoplankton in the English Channel example make up less biomass than the primary consumers, the zooplankton.
  • As with inverted pyramids of numbers, the inverted biomass pyramid is not due to a lack of productivity from the primary producers, but results from the high turnover rate of the phytoplankton.
  • The phytoplankton are consumed rapidly by the primary consumers, which minimizes their biomass at any particular point in time.

• Transferring of Energy between Trophic Levels

  • Large amounts of energy are lost from the ecosystem between one trophic level and the next level as energy flows from the primary producers through the various trophic levels of consumers and decomposers.
  • In the Lake Ontario ecosystem food web, only three energy transfers occurred between the primary producer (green algae) and the tertiary, or apex, consumer (Chinook salmon) .
  • For example, it costs about $0.01 to produce 1000 dietary calories (kcal) of corn or soybeans, but approximately $0.19 to produce a similar number of calories growing cattle for beef consumption.
  • Primary producers are outlined in green, primary consumers in orange, secondary consumers in blue, and tertiary (apex) consumers in purple.
  • For example, the opossum shrimp eats both primary producers and primary consumers.

• Abiotic Factors Influencing Plant Growth

  • Temperature and moisture are important influences on plant production (primary productivity) and the amount of organic matter available as food (net primary productivity).
  • Almost all life on earth is directly or indirectly reliant on primary production.
  • The organisms responsible for primary production, known as primary producers or autotrophs, form the base of the food chain.
  • The aboveground biomass produces several important resources for other living things, including habitat and food.
  • The magnitude and distribution of global primary production varies between biomes.

• Development of the Seed

  • During this time, the radicle is also growing and producing the primary root.
  • As it grows downward to form the tap root, lateral roots branch off to all sides, producing the typical dicot tap root system.
  • Next, the primary shoot emerges, protected by the coleoptile: the covering of the shoot tip.
  • This produces the fibrous root system of the monocot.
  • As this monocot grass seed germinates, the primary root, or radicle, emerges first, followed by the primary shoot, or coleoptile, and the adventitious roots.

• Pineal Gland and Gonads

  • The main hormone produced and secreted by the pineal gland is melatonin.
  • Testosterone, the most prominent androgen in males, stimulates the development and functioning of the primary sex organs .
  • The testes produce androgens, such as testosterone, which regulate primary sex organ development and function, as well as the development of secondary sex characteristics and the production of sperm cells.
  • The pineal gland, found in the brain, produces the hormone melatonin.
  • Male testes produce androgens, while female ovaries produce estrogen and progesterone.

• Gametogenesis (Spermatogenesis and Oogenesis)

  • The cell starting meiosis is called a primary oocyte.
  • This results in the primary oocyte finishing the first meiotic division.
  • Meiosis begins with a cell called a primary spermatocyte.
  • The cell produced at the end of meiosis is called a spermatid.
  • During spermatogenesis, four sperm result from each primary spermatocyte, which divides into two haploid secondary spermatocytes; these cells will go through a second meiotic division to produce four spermatids.

• Primary and Secondary Growth in Stems

  • Most coniferous trees exhibit strong apical dominance, thus producing the typical conical Christmas tree shape.
  • The vascular cambium is located just outside the primary xylem and to the interior of the primary phloem.
  • It produces cork cells (bark) containing a waxy substance known as suberin that can repel water.
  • The cork cambium also produces a layer of cells known as phelloderm, which grows inward from the cambium.
  • The rate of wood growth increases in summer and decreases in winter, producing a characteristic ring for each year of growth.