Final answer:
Primary productivity measures the rate at which ecosystems produce chemical energy from sunlight, taking into consideration both gross and net primary productivity, with the latter being the energy available to other organisms after primary producers' respiration and heat loss.
Step-by-step explanation:
Primary productivity measures the rate at which the ecosystem produces chemical energy from sunlight. Specifically, this concept refers to gross primary productivity, which is the rate at which photosynthetic primary producers, such as plants and algae, incorporate energy from the sun. It's important to note that not all of this energy is available for other organisms because primary producers also use some of it for processes like growth, reproduction, respiration, and resulting metabolic heat loss. The energy that remains after these processes is known as net primary productivity, and it represents the energy available to primary consumers in the food web.