BRAINCAKEHuman Activities and Biomass Transfer
Farming is about manipulating biomass transfer, so that as much of the energy captured by producers as possible ends up in food for humans.
Increasing crop production (NPP)
• Removing weeds with herbicides reduces competition for light, water and minerals.
• Killing pests with pesticides (and fungicides) stops biomass being lost to other consumers.
• Adding fertilisers supplies minerals such as nitrate and phosphate.
• Irrigation supplies water; greenhouses can raise temperature, light and CO2 concentration.
• Selectively bred or genetically modified crops can have higher yields.
Increasing the efficiency of livestock
• Keeping animals in warm, indoor pens restricts movement and reduces heat loss, so less energy is used in respiration and more goes into growth.
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Key terms in this lesson
- net primary production
- The chemical energy that remains stored as new plant biomass after respiratory losses, available to primary consumers.
- biomass
- The mass of living material in an organism or trophic level, representing the chemical energy stored in its organic compounds.
More in Ecosystems
- Trophic Levels
- Biomass Transfer
- Ecological Efficiency
- Calculating Efficiency of Biomass Transfer
- Decomposers
- The Nitrogen Cycle
- Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria
- Nitrification and Denitrification
All 21 lessons in Ecosystems · All OCR A-level Biology topics