Pollution and world primary production

Abstract

Photosynthetic energy fixation by green plants (or ‘primary production’) is the most basic ecological process of the biosphere. A number of pollutants now appear to be potentially capable of influencing primary production over large areas of the world. These include both substances capable of depressing primary production, such as chlorinated hydrocarbons and heavy metals, and those capable of stimulating it, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon dioxide. Information on the effects of each of these pollutants on primary production in terrestrial and marine ecosystems is reviewed. Considerably more research is required before it will be possible to say how these pollutants may interact to influence primary production, and what their overall effects are likely to be.