Represented of production and productivity in terms of energy

Answer

### Step-by-Step Solution:

1. **Understanding Production**:
- Production refers to the total amount of energy that is produced from a given range of inputs. This can include energy from sunlight, nutrients, and water that plants use to create biomass through photosynthesis.
- In terms of energy, production can be quantified as energy per unit area, typically expressed in kilocalories per square meter (kcal/m²).

2. **Understanding Productivity**:
- Productivity, on the other hand, measures how efficiently the resources (inputs) are utilized to produce energy (outputs). It reflects the rate of energy production over time.
- Productivity is expressed in terms of energy per unit area per unit time, which can be represented as kilocalories per square meter per year (kcal/m²/year).

3. **Comparison of Production and Productivity**:
- Both production and productivity are related to the output of energy, but they differ in their focus. Production looks at the total output from inputs, while productivity emphasizes the efficiency of resource use in generating that output.
- For example, if a forest produces 2000 kcal/m² in a year, that is a measure of its production. If it does so using a specific amount of sunlight and nutrients, the efficiency of that process is reflected in its productivity.

4. **Conclusion**:
- To summarize, production can be represented as kilocalories per square meter (kcal/m²), while productivity can be represented as kilocalories per square meter per year (kcal/m²/year). These metrics help ecologists understand energy flow in ecosystems and the efficiency of energy use by different organisms.