Biomass

Question 0

What does a pyramid of biomass represent?

Answer 0

It represents the mass of the organisms at each stage in a food chain. It may be more accurate than a pyramid of numbers. For example, one bush may have many insects feeding on it but the mass of the bush is far greater than the mass of insects.

Question 1

What is biomass?

Answer 1

It is the mass of living material in plants and animals.

Question 2

What do the green plants do when it comes to energy?

Answer 2

They transfer solar energy to chemical energy which is then passed through the food chain.

Question 3

Why are plants always at the base of the pyramid of biomass?

Answer 3

Plants capture light energy and transfer it to chemical. They make food which is then eaten by animals. Plants start the process of energy transfer in living organisms.

Question 4

What is the main source of energy for living organisms?

Answer 4

Radiation from the sun

Question 5

Fill in :

The biomass at each stage in the food chain is _______ than the previous stage.

Answer 5

Less

Question 6

Name all the bars on a pyramid of biomass from bottom upwards

Answer 6

Producers
Herbivore
Carnivore
Carnivore

Question 7

There is energy wastage between each stage of a food chain. What does this mean?

Answer 7

That not all of the energy taken in by an organism results in the growth of that organism.

Question 8

How is it wasted? Give 4 examples and explain

Answer 8

Not all of the food is digested- so energy is stored as waste(faeces and urine)
Some of the biomass is used for respiration, which release energy for living processes. This included movement ,so the more something moves the more energy it uses and the less is available for growth.
In animals that need to keep a constant temp, energy from the previous stage of the food chain is used simple to keep the animal at its normal body temp.
Much of the energy released in respiration is eventually transferred to the surroundings.

Question 9

How can energy wastage be reduced in a food chain?

Answer 9

Reduce the number of stages. Carnivores have less energy available than herbivores who only eat plants.

Question 10

Why do we normally eat herbivores rather than carnivores?

Answer 10

There are less stages in the food chain. Eating plants is the most efficient way of feeding the world population, but if we want meat less energy is wasted by eating herbivores.

Question 11

What in the leaves absorbs the sun light energy?

Answer 11

The chlorophyll inside the chloroplasts in a green leaf absorb the sun light.

Question 12

Which processes in cells releases energy from food material?

Answer 12

Respiration in cells releases energy from food.

Question 13

What happens to energy?

Answer 13

It is not lost but transferred.

Question 14

What start the process of decay?

Answer 14

Detritus feeders such as worms -they eat dead animals or plants

Question 15

Give examples of decomposers

Answer 15

Microorganisms - bacteria and fungi

Question 16

In what conditions is decay faster?

Answer 16

Warm, moist and aerobic conditions.

Question 17

Define the carbon cycle

Answer 17

The constant cycling of carbon in nature.

Question 18

What is removed during photosynthesis?

Answer 18

Carbon dioxide

Question 19

What processes return carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere?

Answer 19

Respiration and combustion

Question 20

What else brings back carbon dioxide into the atmosphere?

Answer 20

Green plants and animals respiring
When humans cut down trees and burn them
When plants and animals die microorganisms release carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.

Question 21

Why is recycling organic kitchen and garden waste necessary?

Answer 21

To reduce landfill
Reduce methane production
Recycle minerals and nutrients in the waste

Question 22

Why do gardeners add worms to compost?

Answer 22

Worms are detritus feeders and start the breakdown of the compost.

Question 23

Suggest why councils shred garden waste before putting it into big bins.

Answer 23

Smaller pieces have a large surface area for the microorganisms to attack. This will increase the rate of decomposition.

Question 24

What is meant by organic waste?

Answer 24

Waste from living organisms containing carbon compounds.

Question 25

What is a sankey diagram?

Answer 25

Graph with arrow shapes which shows total energy taken in and how it is transferred.

Question 26

Why does a compost heap get lost?

Answer 26

The energy from respiration heats up the surroundings.

Question 27

What do we mean by a stable community in terms of recycling of nutrients?

Answer 27

The process that remove materials from the environment are glanced processes that return these materials. Materials such as carbon are constantly recycled.