Production, assimilation and accumulation of organic matter in ecosystems

Abstract

Current equations for energy flow through populations and ecosystems use the term net production for two distinct concepts: (1) the rate at which new organic matter is produced after providing for maintenance, and (2) the rate at which the standing crop of organic matter changes. Some other problems occur in current schemes of production. For instance, costs of maintenance other than respiration have been excluded from gross production, and application of equations has been restricted to closed systems. The increasing emphasis on ecological energetics at the ecosystem level makes it important to overcome these difficulties. Complete description of the energetic state of ecosystems requires provision for detrital components as well as autotrophs and heterotrophs. A series of equations are developed to accomplish this analysis with consistent application of terminology at all levels of organization.