Table 3.5 The number of organisms, biomass and energy in each trophic level of Silver Springs, Florida Trophic level Number of organisms Biomass Energy (kJ m-2 year-!) (g m-2) Tertiary consumers T4...

1. Explain why there are differences in the efficiency of energy transfer between trophic levels.


2. Explain what happens to the energy which is not transferred to the next trophic level in a food chain when one organism feeds on another.

Extracted text: Table 3.5 The number of organisms, biomass and energy in each trophic level of Silver Springs, Florida Trophic level Number of organisms Biomass Energy (kJ m-2 year-!) (g m-2) Tertiary consumers T4 0.01 1.5 67 24 x 10 Secondary consumers T3 11.0 1602 41 x 104 14 x 103 Primary consumers T2 37.0 Primary 27 x 1010 809.0 87 x 103 producers T, Based on Odum (1957).


Extracted text: T4 = 1 T3 = 25 12.5 T2 = 600 300 300 T1 = 10,000 5000 5000 Figure 3.7 How to draw an ecological pyramid. The value for each trophic level should be divided by two and this value is the width of the bar on either side of the centre line. The top bar (T4) is often so narrow that it has to be drawn as single line. Not drawn to scale.