B4.1.5 Efficiency of Biomass Transfer Flashcards
1
Q
How much chemical energy do consumers, at each trophic level, convert to new body tissue?
A
10%
2
Q
When is biomass lost?
A
- not all of an organism is eaten
- some biomass is used in respiration, produces ATP, muscles use ATP to move AND respiration transfers energy to the environment
- some parts of organism cannot be digested (egestion)
- waste products produced by body are lost through excretion
3
Q
Egestion
A
the process of discharging undigested or waste material from an organism
4
Q
What happens to the amount of energy transferred at each stage of the food chain?
A
It becomes less
5
Q
Why do most few chains have up to 4 trophic levels?
A
As not enough energy can be transferred to sustain life processes
6
Q
Equation for efficiency of biomass transfer
A
%=
(biomass of consumer after meal/biomass of prey eaten) X100
