Learning Objectives

20.1.1 Explain how variation in the leaf area index influences gross primary production through both carbon gains and losses.

20.1.2 Describe the relationship between gross primary production and net primary production and how this relationship can change during succession.

20.1.3 Summarize why it is important to measure net primary production and describe some of the ways ecologists measure net primary production at large spatial scales.

20.1.4 Illustrate how the relationship between net primary production and net ecosystem exchange is influenced by the mass of autotrophs versus the mass of heterotrophs.