In a food chain, plants are eaten by insects, which are eaten by small birds, which are eaten by hawks.
Why can the plants usually support fewer hawks than small birds of similar mass?
More energy is stored in biomass at each feeding stage.
Less energy reaches biomass at each feeding stage.
More energy is recycled to plants at each feeding stage.
Less energy is transferred as heat at each feeding stage.
38 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Biology 9.2 Energy transfer and biodiversity, covering 9.2.1 Energy transfer between trophic levels, 9.2.2 Efficiency of energy transfers, 9.2.3 Human interactions and biodiversity, 9.2.4 Benefits of maintaining biodiversity, and 9.2.5 Biological factors affecting food security. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.