What will be the P/R ratio of a climax community and a pioneer community? What explanation could you offer for the changes seen in the P/R ratio of a pioneer community and the climax community?
The P/R ratio of a community is the ratio of gross production and community respiration. This can be one, less than one or more than one.
The ratio can be more or less than one in a pioneer community, but for a climax community, it is equal to one. Two situations may be observed in pioneer communities:
(a) P/R is more than 1: The level of respiratory loss would be less if there were few consumers, but the gross productivity is high.
(b) P/R is less than 1: The level of respiratory loss is higher than gross productivity if there is a large population of decomposers (or the decomposition rate is high) P/R ratio is one for the climax community. These communities are stable.