Energy in Biomass Flashcards
What is biomass?
mass of living materials
What does a pyramid of biomass represent?
the mass of organisms at each trophic level
How does a food chain start?
Plants start the process of energy transfer in living organisms by absorbing sunlight and transferring their light energy to chemical energy during photosynthesis which passes through a food chain
What does a food chain consist of?
Producer → Primary consumer→ Secondary consumer → Tertiary consumer
What is the producer?
- produces food
- most likely to be green plant
What is a herbivore?
- an animal that eats a plant
- primary consumer
What is a carnivore?
- an animal which consumes an animal
- secondary/ tertiary consumer
What is an omnivore?
- an organism which can eat both plants and animals
- more info needed to determine position on food chain
What is a trophic level?
an energy level in a food chain or web
How does the amount of biomass differ at each stage of the food chain?
it decreases at each stage
Why is a small percentage of sunlight absorbed by green plants?
- not all the light is correct wavelength
- some light is reflected
- some light will pass straight through
How is energy lost in food chains?
- not all food eaten can be digested so energy stored in faeces or lost via excretion (urea)
- food is used for respiration which releases energy for movement and other llving process but most energy is transferred to the surroundings
- some energy is lost as heat to keep a constant body temperature
What is the conversion rate from plants to herbivores?
5-10%
What is the conversion rate from herbivores to carnivores?
10-20%
What happens to the energy if the organism is not consumed?
- organism die and decompose
- decomposers releases energy for respiration into surroundings
