Net Primary Productivity Procedure
Materials
* Grass seeds should be sown into the flats and grown to approximately 2-3 cm in order to begin the experiment. The grass must be watered well at least an hour prior to each time data is collected. * Scissors * Newspaper * Fertilizer * Aeration punches (the types used to aeration of lawns) * Light sources * Water Drying oven or blotting paper and plant press for drying of plant material * Aluminum foil * Spoons or indoor garden spades to remove plants * String or other marking method to mark plot boundaries * Other supplies to vary growth conditions as desired
Procedure
1. Take 5 Complete Plants from the soil. 2. Place the plants on an open container made from aluminum foil, and let dry in a high temperature(Microwave) 3. In the section of the tray from which you took your samples, count the number of plants in a 5cm by 5 cm area. Record this count in your data table. 4. After the plants have dried, weigh and record the mass. 5. Allow the remaining grass to grow for one more week 6. Find the difference in the dry mass. This number is in grams of added carbon per five plants. Scale this up by using the number of plants growing in 25 cm. Then convert units of CM to m and also number of days between samples to years 7. Calculate and report the NPP into units of grams of carbon per square meter.
Food Web Sun Grass organic matter Nematodes(root feeders) Fungi Bacteria

Arthropods（insect） Nematodes(fungi and bacteria feeders) Protozoa

predator Arthropods Birds Animals
Food Chain

BLACKLAND PRAIRE http://www.soilphysics.okstate.edu/S257/south/mlra/86.htm