Primary Production in the San Francisco Bay

Answer the following questions in complete sentences while exploring the website Primary Production- Key Element to the Status of San Francisco Bay found at http://sfbay.wr.usgs.gov/archive/ColeCloern/CCHome.html. Make sure to click on all questions sections and pictures to get further information as you go through the site.

  1. What is primary production?
  2. How is it measured in the SF Bay?
  3. What group of living organisms are responsible for primary production in the Bay?
  4. What are the scientific names of 7 kinds of algae found in the bay? Briefly sketch each.
  5. Sketch a simple food web of the bay and label all trophic levels.
  6. What is the relationship between primary production and fishery yield (you may either sketch graph or explain in words to answer)?
  7. Explain why this is so using what you know about primary productivity, secondary productivity, and ecosystem productivity.
  8. When and where in the bay is primary production greatest?
  9. Why does this make sense?
  10. SF Bay is technically considered an estuary. What does this mean?
  11. How does bioproduction in the bay compare with rates elsewhere?
  12. How much C was converted into plant matter in 1993
  13. In the South Bay where we are, what was the amount of "whale" equivalents of primary production in 1993?