What do food chain arrows show?
Reveal answer
The direction of energy transfer.
Key words: energy
5(b) FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS · RECALL
5.7 Food chains, webs and pyramids
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Why can a pyramid of numbers be inverted?
Reveal answer
One big producer (tree) supports many consumers.
Key words: tree
Why measure dry biomass?
Reveal answer
Water content varies.
Key words: varies
Why is a pyramid of biomass usually pyramid-shaped?
Reveal answer
Biomass lost at each level (respiration, waste).
Key words: lost
What is a food web?
Reveal answer
Interlinked food chains.
Key words: food chains
Effect of removing a predator?
Reveal answer
Prey ↑ → producers eaten more ↓.
Key words: prey
Which pyramid is never inverted?
Reveal answer
Pyramid of energy.
Key words: energy
What is biomass?
Reveal answer
The mass of living material.
Key words: mass
What is meant by the term food chain?
Reveal answer
A sequence showing which organism is eaten by which, starting with a producer.
Key words: food chain
What is meant by the term food web?
Reveal answer
A network of interlinked food chains.
Key words: food web
What is meant by the term biomass?
Reveal answer
The mass of living material, usually measured as dry mass.
Key words: biomass
What is meant by the term pyramid of energy transfer?
Reveal answer
A diagram showing the energy transferred to each trophic level over a set time.
Key words: pyramid of energy transfer
Three ecological pyramids, Numbers. What is measured? Shape and limitation?
Reveal answer
What is measured: Number of organisms at each level. Shape and limitation: Can be inverted; ignores organism size.
Key words: Numbers
Three ecological pyramids, Biomass. What is measured? Shape and limitation?
Reveal answer
What is measured: Dry mass of organisms at each level (per area). Shape and limitation: Usually upright; a snapshot that may be inverted in some aquatic systems.
Key words: Biomass
Three ecological pyramids, Energy transfer. What is measured? Shape and limitation?
Reveal answer
What is measured: Energy transferred to each level over time. Shape and limitation: Always upright; data are difficult to collect.
Key words: Energy transfer
True or false, and why? “Arrows in a food chain mean “eats”.”
Reveal answer
False. Arrows point from the food to the feeder and show the direction of energy transfer.
True or false, and why? “All ecological pyramids are pyramid-shaped.”
Reveal answer
False. Pyramids of number can be inverted; only pyramids of energy transfer are always upright.
True or false, and why? “Biomass is the number of organisms.”
Reveal answer
False. Biomass is the mass of living material, not the count.