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GCSE
Food chains
Food chains show the feeding relationships between living things. Pyramids of biomass reveal the mass of living material at each stage in a chain.
Part of
Biology (Single Science)
Ecosystems and habitats
quiz
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Energy transfer
Energy is transferred along food chains from one trophic level to the next. However, the amount of available energy decreases from one trophic level to the next.
Energy transfer
A pyramid of biomass
A pyramid of biomass
A pyramid of biomass
A pyramid of biomass
Energy loss
In a food chain only around 10 per cent of the energy is passed on to the next trophic level. The rest of the energy passes out of the food chain in a number of ways:
- it is used as heat energy
- it is used for life processes (eg movement)
- faeces and remains are passed to decomposers
Less energy is transferred at each level of the food chain so the biomass gets smaller. As a result, there are usually fewer than five trophic levels in food chains.
Percentage efficiency of energy transfer
The percentage efficiency of energy transfer between trophic levels can be calculated using the equation:
curriculum-key-fact
energy transferred to next level ÷ total energy in × 100
Worked example
Work out the percentage efficiency of energy transfer between producers and primary consumers in the example.
QuestionCalculate the total energy that came into the level of the food chain.
4500 kJ + 500 kJ = 5000 kJ
QuestionIdentify how much energy is transferred to the next level.
500 kJ
QuestionCalculate the efficiency of this transfer using the equation.
energy transferred to next level ÷ total energy in × 100
500 kJ ÷ 5000 kJ × 100 = 10%
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