In a food chain, 10% of the biomass is transferred from each trophic level to the next.
The producers have a biomass of 50 000 kg50\,000\ \text{kg}50000 kg.
A population of tertiary consumers needs at least 60 kg of biomass to survive.
Which statement is correct?
The tertiary consumers would have 500 kg500\ \text{kg}500 kg, so they could be supported.
The tertiary consumers would have 50 kg50\ \text{kg}50 kg, so they could not be supported.
The tertiary consumers would have 5 kg5\ \text{kg}5 kg, so they could not be supported.
The tertiary consumers would have 5000 kg5000\ \text{kg}5000 kg, so they could be supported.
111 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Biology 4.1 Ecosystems, covering 4.1.1 Cycling of materials in ecosystems, 4.1.2 Microorganisms in cycling materials, 4.1.3 The carbon and water cycles, 4.1.4 Factors affecting decomposition, 4.1.5 Levels of organisation in an ecosystem, 4.1.6 Abiotic and biotic factors affecting communities, 4.1.7 Interdependence and competition, 4.1.8 Trophic levels, 4.1.9 Pyramids of biomass, and 4.1.10 Efficiency of biomass transfers. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.