Topic 3.9: Transfers of Energy and Matter Questions

An animal takes food into its body and then digests it internally. Which mode of nutrition is this?

State the two forms in which aquatic autotrophs obtain the carbon they fix in photosynthesis.

What does the term 'biomagnification' describe?

Which statement correctly defines an autotroph?

State one process that reduces the amount of nutrients held in the soil store of an ecosystem.

In the food chain oak tree → caterpillar → blue tit → sparrowhawk, state the trophic level of the blue tit.

Which of the following is a detritivore?

Saprotrophs and detritivores are both decomposers. Which feature do they SHARE?

In which organism of a food chain is a persistent pollutant found at the HIGHEST concentration?

State the energy source used by a chemoautotroph.

Which term describes an organism that makes its own food by photosynthesis and forms the first trophic level of a food chain?

State what is meant by a 'persistent' (non-biodegradable) pollutant.

A pyramid of energy for a food chain shows bars that get smaller going up the trophic levels. What does this pattern show?

Roughly what percentage of the energy at one trophic level is passed on to the next trophic level?

In a food chain, an arrow drawn between two organisms shows which of the following?

State one factor that affects the percentage of ingested energy that an animal converts into its own body biomass.

Which single process REMOVES carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the carbon cycle?

A pond ecosystem contains pondweed, water fleas, small fish and a heron. The water fleas eat the pondweed, the small fish eat the water fleas, and the heron eats the small fish. Construct a food chain for these organisms and identify the trophic level of the small fish.

A rocky-shore food web shows the arrows: seaweed → limpet → dog whelk, and also seaweed → periwinkle → dog whelk. Identify the original energy source of the dog whelk and outline how the web tells you this.

Describe how a saprotroph, such as a decomposer fungus, obtains its organic molecules.