Question

The total amount of chemical energy produced by autotrophs, such as plants and phytoplankton, is called gross primary production. The energy that remains after plants use some of the gross primary production to fuel their own metabolism is known as ________.A) negative primary productionB) net primary productionC) secondary productionD) negative secondary productionE) positive primary production

Answer 1

Answer:

Net Primary production

Explanation:

Net primary production is the rate at which autotrophs or primary producers produce useful chemical energy that enters the ecosystem for use by other consumers.  

The primary producers like plants produces chemical energy by photosynthesis (gross primary production), but some the energy produced are used to fuel their own reactions in metabolism and growth; the remaining energy is then used to drive other biotic processes by consumers in the ecosystem.

Therefore NNP is the difference between the rate at which autotrophs produce useful chemical energy and the rate at which they use a portion of the energy produced for cellular processes.