Topic Summaries

Transfer of biomass

GCSE > Biology > Edexcel > GCSE Biology Topic Summaries > Biomass and trophic levels > Transfer of biomass
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Pathogens and non-specific immunity

Resource cycles and environmental change

Science skills: Measuring results

  • A pyramid of biomass is largest at the bottom and decreases as we go up the levels as biomass is lost between the different trophic levels.
    • Not all ingested material is absorbed, some is egested as faeces.
    • A lot of absorbed material is lost as waste, such as carbon dioxide and water in respiration and water and urea in urine.
    • Large amounts of glucose are used in respiration.
  • Efficiency of biomass transfers is equal to the biomass in the higher trophic level divided by the biomass of the lower trophic level.
  • Producers transfer about 1% of the incident energy from light (from the sun) for photosynthesis.
  • Only approximately 10% of the biomass from each trophic level is transferred to the level above it.
  • As biomass and energy are lost at each level up the food chain, often the number of organisms decreases from one trophic level to the next.
  • However, if level 2 was larger than level 1, then the herbivores may eat all of the plants, affecting the food chain.

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