Energy Transfer Review

In an energy pyramid, energy_______ as you move up the pyramid.

• Increases
• Decreases
• Stays the same
• Changes up and down

In the energy pyramid here, how much of the energy in the producers gets passed to the herbivores?

• 10%
• 20%
• 80%
• 90%

A secondary consumer 

• eats primary consumers
• eats producers
• eats plants

Which organism receives the least amount of energy from the producer?

• Owl
• Grasshopper
• Lilypad
• Mouse

Which level will contain plants?

• A
• B
• C
• D

Which level has the most energy available?

• producer
• primary consumer
• secondary consumer
• tertiary consumer

A team of ecologists observed feeding patterns of several populations in the desert. The energy pyramid shown below depicts the feeding patterns the ecologist observed. Which of the following best explains the difference in the amount of available energy in the trophic levels of the desert ecosystem?

• There is less energy available in the producers because their tissues are less dense than those at higher trophic levels.
• There is more energy available in the second trophic level because less energy is needed for hunting compared to the higher trophic levels. 
• There is more available energy in the birds of prey because they have greater muscle mass for storing energy than organisms in lower trophic levels have. 
• There is less available energy in the fourth trophic level because of the loss of energy through metabolism in each of the lower trophic levels.

Which of the following does an organism convert the energy it gains into?

• Biomass

• Waste

• Heat

• All of these

What does a pyramid of numbers compare?

• the number of individual organisms at each trophic level

• the number of individuals in each population

• the number of predators and prey in an ecosystem

• the number of different populations at each trophic level

Why are there generally a maximum of five trophic levels?

• It's far easier to draw a pyramid that way.

• Because energy is lost at each level, there isn't enough energy left to support any more consumers.

• Generally a top predator is so fierce it has no predators and therefore can rule the top trophic level without fear.

• There simply is not a word beyond quaternary.

• BTW the word after quaternary is quinary (always read all the options in multiple choice questions)