B3 - Biomass Transfer

Question 1

How is biomass transferred through an ecosystem?

Answer 1

Through the living organisms of an ecosystem, when one organism eats another.

Question 2

How is biomass lost through the food chain? (3)

Answer 2

Some biomass is used in respiration
Egestion (the removal of undigested)
Not every part of an organism is eaten.

Question 3

Why do food chains rarely have more than five trophic levels?

Answer 3

So much biomass is lost after each stage, that there’s not enough left to support organisms after that many stages.

Question 4

How can you work out how much biomass has been lost ate each level?

Answer 4

By taking away the biomass that is available to the next level from the biomass that was available to the previous level

Question 5

Formula to calculate biomass transfer.

Answer 5

biomass available to the next
Efficiency=________________________________________________ x 100
biomass that was available at the previous
level

Question 6

Give two ways that biomass is lost between trophic levels. (2 marks)

Answer 6

Egestion
Respiration
Not all of an organism is eaten

Question 7

Calculate the percentage efficiency of biomass transfer between some large fish (995 Kg of available biomass) and a shark (110 Kg of available biomass).

Answer 7

11.1%

110/995*100= 11.05527…