15.2 Energy FLow

Question 1

How much of the Sun’s energy do producers use?

Answer 1

1%

Question 2

There are 2 main ways to show what is happening in an ecosystem more clearly and provides us with more valuable information about the flow of energy through trophic levels. What are they?

Answer 2

Pyramid on numbers, and pyramid of biomass

Question 3

What does a pyramid of numbers do?

Answer 3

They show how much an organism is consumed by the organism on the next trophic level

Question 4

What does a pyramid of biomass do

Answer 4

They show the amount of biomass at each trophic level

Question 5

What is a problem with a pyramid of numbers?

Answer 5

They can be inverted if the producer is too large at the start

Question 6

What is biomass?

Answer 6

Biomass Is the amount of living material available to the next trophic level

Question 7

How is biomass calculated

Answer 7

Mass of organism (without water) x number of organisms

Question 8

Can pyramids of biomass be inverted? Why?

Answer 8

Rarely or never, this is because the amount of organisms on the next trophic levels almost ALWAYS decreases due to the amount of energy lost

Question 9

What is an organisms mass discluding water called?

Answer 9

Dry mass