Question

Briefly define the ecological concepts of productivity and diversity and explain two views of how these variables might be related to each other.

Answer 1

Ecological Concept: Productivity

Productivity is the rate at which the biomass increases per unit area. It refers to the fixation of solar energy by plants and the subsequent use of that energy by herbivores, carnivores and detritvores. Primary productivity is the energy accumulated by plants while secondary and tertiary productivity refer to energy accumulated by herbivores and carnivores respectively. Productivity is measured by either carbon consumption and oxygen production or the rate of biomass accumulation over time.

Ecological Concept: Diversity

Ecological diversity is a type of biodiversity. It is the variation in the ecosystemsfound in a region or the variation in ecosystems over the whole planet. ...Ecological diversity is the largest scale of biodiversity, and within each ecosystem, there is a great deal of both species and genetic diversity.

Relation between diversity and productivity :

Species richness,diversity is often hypothesized to first increase and then decrease with productivity, producing a hump-shaped or unimodal relationship

Energy variables, such as evapotranspiration, temperature, and productivity explain significant variation in the diversity of many groups of terrestrial plants and animals at local to global scales. Although the ocean represents the largest continuous habitat on earth with a vast spectrum of primary productivity and species richness, little is known about how productivity influences species diversity in marine systems. To search for general relationships between productivity and species richness in the ocean,

A common pattern emerging from studies on the relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem functioning is that productivity increases with diversity. Most of these studies have been carried out in perennial grasslands, but many lasted only two growing seasons or reported data from a single year. Especially for perennial plant communities, however, the long-term effects of diversity are important.