Question

What do you mean by standing crop and standing state?

Answer 1

Hint: The weight or quantity of living matter in an area at a given moment is the standing crop. The amount of inorganic nutrients like carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, etc., present in soil at that time is called standing state.

Complete answer:
Standing crop is the biomass or living matter of biotic components of an ecosystem at a particular time. It represents the entire living matter (biomass). It indicates the productivity of the ecosystem. Standing crops are present all over the ecosystem. Here, continuous synthesis and consumption of biomass are going on. Standing crop biomass tends to be more readily noticeable in terrestrial ecosystems as compared to aquatic ecosystems. The reason is not only that the terrestrial plants are so obviously a part of our landscape but also because foraging pressures on producers tends to be lower on land than in the sea.

Standing state can be defined as the amount of inorganic nutrients found in an ecosystem. It represents the part of non-living matter. It usually occurs in the growth medium of producers. It determines the productivity of the ecosystem. It circulates between biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components of the ecosystem. It is being regularly depleted and replenished by living matter.

Note: Organisms present at each trophic level totally depend on those at the lower trophic level for their energy needs. Each trophic level has a certain mass of living material (biomass) at a particular time that is called standing crop. Standing state is the amount of recyclable inorganic nutrients, like C, N, P, Ca, etc. present in the soil at any given time.