Science Ecosystems & Habitats Conceptual 11–12 yrs

Energy Loss Between Levels

层级间的能量损耗

Description

Explain how energy is transferred between trophic levels in a food chain, why energy is lost at each stage, and use pyramids of biomass/numbers to represent this

Mastery Evidence

✓ Explains that only about 10% of energy passes from one trophic level to the next
✓ Constructs a pyramid of biomass from data and explains its shape
✓ Identifies where energy is lost at each trophic level (heat, movement, waste)
✓ Explains why food chains rarely have more than five trophic levels

Assessment Prompt

If your child was asked why there are so many more plants than foxes in a field, could they explain how energy gets lost at every step of a food chain and what that means for the size of each population?