Exploring Biomass Pyramids
Description
Student Learning Targets
- Measure the biomass of primary producers in a defined area and extrapolate to calculate the amount of algal biomass in a river pool.
- Use the “10% rule” to predict the amount of consumer biomass that can be supported by the primary producers.
- Make hypotheses about the relationship between biomass pyramids and pyramids of productivity, and test those hypotheses with data.
- Explain the role of abiotic factors, such as sunlight, on trophic biomass pyramids.
Estimated Time
Key Terms
algae, catfish, energy, field ecology, inverse pyramid, Panama, productivity, simulation, trophic pyramid
Primary Literature
Power, M. E. “Grazing responses of tropical freshwater fishes to different scales of variation in their food.” Environmental Biology of Fishes 9, 2 (1983): 103–115. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00690856.
Power, M. E. “Habitat quality and the distribution of algae-grazing catfish in a Panamanian stream.” The Journal of Animal Ecology 53, 2 (1984): 357–374. https://doi.org/10.2307/4521.
Power, M. E. “The importance of sediment in the grazing ecology and size class interactions of an armored catfish, Ancistrus spinosus.” Environmental Biology of Fishes 10, 3 (1984): 173–181. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00001124.
Terms of Use
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Version History
NGSS (2013)
HS-LS2-2, HS-LS2-4, HS-LS2-6; SEP2, SEP6
AP Biology (2019)
ENE-1.H, ENE-1.M, ENE-1.N, ENE-1.O, ENE-4.B, ENE-4.C, SYI-1.G; SP1, SP2, SP4, SP5, SP6
IB Biology (2016)
4.1, 4.2, C.1
AP Environmental Science (2020)
Topic(s): 1.11
Learning Objectives & Practices: ENG-1.D
IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)
2.1, 2.3
Common Core (2010)
ELA.RST.9-12.2, ELA.WHST.9-12.9
Vision and Change (2009)
CC5; DP1, DP3
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