Homework~ 8 LV

Chains, webs and pyramids

Name
_____________________________Class___________
Here are three food chains:
A

grass rabbit fox

wheat field mouse fox

wheat field mouse grass snake

Sketch a pyramid of numbers for food chain A.

Use all three food chains to draw a food web.

Name one producer in the food web.

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Name a primary consumer.

____________________________________________________

Name a secondary consumer.

__________________________________________________

If the field mice died, what would happen to the number of grass snakes?
_____________________________________________________________
_________

Why would this happen?

_____________________________________________________________
_________
c

If the field mice died, what might happen to the number of rabbits?
_____________________________________________________________
_________

Why might this happen?

_____________________________________________________________
_________

Changing populations
1

Look at this graph. It has two vertical axes, one for the rabbits and one for the
foxes. It shows how the populations of foxes and rabbits have changed in one
area. Each population was measured at the middle of every year.

Which animal is a predator?

Which animal is preyed upon?

How many rabbits were there in 1989?

How many foxes were there in 1993?

In which year were there the most foxes?

Explain why the number of foxes fell between 1988 and 1990.

During 1996 the rabbit population was almost totally wiped out. Give one
possible reason for this.

In 1997 there were no foxes. Give one reason for this.

Pyramids
Revision:
Each level on a pyramid of numbers is called a trophic level. Animals that are on the
same level in two different pyramids of numbers are said to be at the same trophic level.
Producers, for example, are always at Trophic level 1.
Pyramids of numbers do not take into account the size of the organisms. A better way of
showing things is to use a pyramid of biomass. This shows the actual mass of material
at each trophic level. A sample is taken and the masses of the different organisms are
measured. This often involves drying the organisms in an oven to get rid of all the
water. How wet or dry the weather is can affect how much water is found inside an
organism. This would affect the biomass and might make the measurement inaccurate.
So, the biomass is a measure of the dry mass of material at each trophic level.

A pyramid of numbers.

Explain why the pyramid of numbers above is not shaped like a pyramid.

What number tropic level are the ladybirds at?

Draw a food chain for this pyramid of numbers.

What do you think the word biomass means?

Sketch a pyramid of biomass from the pyramid of numbers above. You do not
need to add any figures, just draw the shape.

To work out a pyramid of biomass, the dry masses of the organisms are used.
Why?

The biomass of an oak tree changes during the course of a year. Why is this?

Only about 10% of the chemical energy in an organisms food is used for growth.
What happens to the rest?

The biomass at each trophic level gets smaller as you go up the pyramid. Why do
you think this is? (Hint: Think about energy loss.)