IB Biology SL C4.2.3 Chemical Energy Flow Questions

Follow chemical energy from photosynthetic producers into consumers and decomposers, then explain how respiration, heat and uneaten material remove energy from ecosystems in IB Biology SL C4.2.3.

Exam points

Explain how producers capture light and convert it into chemical energy stored in carbon compounds through photosynthesis.
Trace chemical energy from producers to consumers and decomposers as organisms feed through trophic levels.
Explain that respiration converts chemical energy to ATP and releases heat, with additional losses in uneaten material, excretion or death so energy leaves the ecosystem and is not recycled.

[Maximum number: 3]

The mass of an individual organism can affect its physiology and feeding ecology. The diagram shows the relative mass of carbon (black) and total wet mass (grey) of a marine crustacean, Calanus hyperboreus and a jellyfish, Bathocyroe fosteri.

Figure for Question IB Biology SL C4.2.3 Chemical Energy Flow Questions question 1 — IB Biology SL

Explain how energy enters, flows through and is lost from marine food chains.

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a	light energy is converted to chemical energy (in carbon compounds/sugars) by photosynthesis
b	(chemical) energy (in carbon compounds) flows by means of feeding/through food chains/webs
c	only (approximately) 10\% of energy is passed to the next trophic level
d	energy released as heat (by respiration)
e	energy is not recycled
f	after death, energy may remain trapped as undigested detritus/fossils/fossil fuels

IB Biology SL C4.2.3 Chemical Energy Flow Questions question 1