On the definition of plankton production terms

The development of our plankton production terminology is discussed. It has been necessary to take into consideration, successively, algal and community respiration, as loss terms; when community processes are dealt with, space, time, and the size and abundance of the individual organisms also become considerations. No agreement exists as to whether the primary processes themselves (i.e., photosynthesis and respiration) should be defined in terms of energy or material flux. An argument is presented to illustrate that our methodology is now more precise than our definitions, and a start is made to formulate a consistent set of definitions.