Case Study 3
Animal Farm
Learning Targets:
MLT1: I can calculate the total amount of animals that an ecosystem can sustain
Lesson 1: Watch the short click view video below, answer the questions, and then complete the secure/excellence google form below.
Finished those slides?
TASK: Complete the pyramid of biomass google forms by selecting either secure or excellence:
MLT2: I can analyse how biomass is transferred in a food chain using data
Lesson 2: Watch the short click view video below, answer the questions, and then complete the secure/excellence google form below.
The efficiency of biomass transfer is a measure of the proportion of biomass transferred from a lower trophic level to a higher one. Usually around ten per cent of biomass is transferred between trophic levels.
This is an example of a food chain:
phytoplankton → zooplankton → herring → sea lion
The total biomass within the phytoplankton is 14.6 kg. The total biomass within the zooplankton is 1.3 kg. What is the efficiency of this transfer?
To complete this calculation, we divide the amount from the higher trophic level by the amount from the lower trophic level and multiply by one hundred. That is, we divide the smaller number by the bigger one (and multiply by one hundred).
FORMULA FOR WORKING OUT EFFICIENCY TRANSFER:
MLT3: I can substitute biomass data into efficiency formulae to calculate the % and fraction of mass passed on through a food chain
MLT4: I can evaluate the impact of plant based, herbivorous, and carnivorous diets on ecosystems
Where do we fit in?
The world’s 7.6 billion people represent just 0.01% of all living things, according to the study. Yet since the dawn of civilisation, humanity has caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of plants, while livestock kept by humans abounds.
Science 360 6392 987 - Accepted Manuscript.pdf