Trophic Levels

Question 1

What are trophic levels

Answer 1

Different stages of the food chain

Consisting of one or more organisms that perform a specific role in the food chain

Question 2

What does each trophic level contain

Answer 2

1 = producers 
2= primary consumers 
3= secondary consumers 
4= tertiary consumers

Question 3

What animals are in trophic levels 1 2 and 3

Answer 3

2 = herbivores. 
3 = carnivores 
4 = carnivores that way other carnivores ( apex predators)

Question 4

What’s biomass

Answer 4

The mass of living material

Question 5

What do pyramids of biomass show

Answer 5

The relative masses of trophic levels

Each bar shows the relative mass of living material at a trophic level

Question 6

What happens to the biomass as you go up a trophic level

Answer 6

It gets lost and decreases each time

Only about 10% is passed on

Question 7

Why is biomass lost

Answer 7

Organisms don’t eat every part of what Its consuming
It’s not all absorbed in the food they ingest - turns to faeces
It’s converted into other substances like waste from glucose or urea

Question 8

How do you calculate the efficiency of biomass transfer

Answer 8

Biomass transferred to the next level / biomass available at the previous level
x 100

Question 9

What is food security

Answer 9

Having enough food to feed a population

Question 10

What can threaten food security

Answer 10

Population increase
Demands for certain food increase
New pests and pathogens affecting farms and crops

Question 11

How can we maintain fish stocks

Answer 11

Fishing quotas
= limita in number and size of fish that can be caught - so stopping overfishing in areas
Net size = reduces number of unwanted fish by changing the mesh size for the fish ur fishing

Question 12

How can farming be made more efficient

Answer 12

Limiting the movement of life stock so they use less energy and we can control their body temp

Question 13

What is biotechnology

Answer 13

Where living things and biological processes are used and manipulated to produce a useful product

Question 14

What is genetic engineering

Answer 14

Transferring a useful gene from one organism to another

Question 15

What can bacteria be made into and how

Answer 15

It can be genetically engineered to make human insulin

Question 16

What happens in the first steps of genetically engineering bacteria

Answer 16

Remove plasmid from bacterium

Restriction enzymes cuts teh insulin gene out of a human chromosome

Question 17

What does the restriction enzyme do in genetic engineering of bacteria

Answer 17

It recognises specific sequences of DNA and the cut DNA at these points
This cut leaves one of the DNA strands with unpaired bases called a sticky end
The same restructuring enzyme cuts open the plasmids so the DNA and plasmid both have the same sticky ends
Making them mix together

Question 18

How do the sticky ends if the plasmid and human insulin gene join

Answer 18

An enzyme called ligase is added

It’s joins the sticky ends to produce recombinant DNA

Question 19

What happens to the recombinant DNA in genetic engineering of bacteria

Answer 19

It’s inserted into a bacterium
This is grown in a vat under controlled conditions
You will end up with millions of bacteria that produce insulin

Question 20

What is mycoprotein and how’s it’s made

Answer 20

Made from the fungus fusarium which is grown in aerobic conditions on glucose syrup
The fungal biomass is harvested and pitched to make mycoprotein

Question 21

What is mycoprotein used for

Answer 21

To make high-protein meat substitutes for vegetarian meals

Question 22

How can biotechnology help developing counties have enough food

Answer 22

GM crops can be produced that are resistant to pests
GM crops can be modified to grow better in drought conditions
They can be modified to produce more nutritional value

Question 23

Why do people not agree with biotechnology

Answer 23

People argue that people can’t afford food so we need to tackle poverty crisis first
Counties may become dependent on counties who sell GM seeds