What term describes the amount of plants, animals, and nutrients in water (PAN)?

What term describes the amount of plants, animals, and nutrients in water (PAN)?

• A. Primary Production
• B. Biomass
• C. PAN
• D. Productivity

Answer: (D)

Productivity describes how fast energy and nutrients are turned into new living matter in the water. In an aquatic system, the plants and animals that make up PAN are continually produced and recycled as nutrients cycles through the community. The faster this production happens, the larger the pool of plant and animal biomass and available nutrients can become over time. So productivity links to the amount of PAN by capturing the system’s capacity to generate biomass and move nutrients through the ecosystem. Primary production focuses specifically on the rate at which photosynthetic organisms convert inorganic carbon into organic matter, and doesn’t fully account for the entire PAN pool. Biomass refers to the actual amount of living matter present at a given moment, which is a stock, not the rate of generation. Productivity is the term that best ties the concept of how much PAN can be supported by the ongoing production and turnover in the water.

Productivity describes how fast energy and nutrients are turned into new living matter in the water. In an aquatic system, the plants and animals that make up PAN are continually produced and recycled as nutrients cycles through the community. The faster this production happens, the larger the pool of plant and animal biomass and available nutrients can become over time. So productivity links to the amount of PAN by capturing the system’s capacity to generate biomass and move nutrients through the ecosystem.

Primary production focuses specifically on the rate at which photosynthetic organisms convert inorganic carbon into organic matter, and doesn’t fully account for the entire PAN pool. Biomass refers to the actual amount of living matter present at a given moment, which is a stock, not the rate of generation. Productivity is the term that best ties the concept of how much PAN can be supported by the ongoing production and turnover in the water.