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GCSE Biology · key term
A diagram whose centred horizontal bars show the relative total biomass at successive trophic levels in a food chain.
Used by AQA, Edexcel and OCR
Specification 4.7.4.2, 4.7.4.3 · Paper 2
Revise: Biomass PyramidsA pyramid of biomass adds this quantitative information: each horizontal bar represents the total biomass at one trophic level.
A scaled diagram showing the relative biomass at each trophic level of a food chain.
A pyramid of biomass shows the mass of living material, not the number of organisms. One large tree, for example, can support many insects.
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Specification 9.7B · Paper 2
A diagram whose bars show the biomass at successive trophic levels; a wider bar represents more biomass.
Revise: Energy Transfer and BiomassA pyramid of biomass compares the biomass at each trophic level, commonly using dry mass so that differences in water content do not dominate the comparison. The producer bar is at the bottom. Each bar's width represents the biomass at that level: as only some material is incorporated into the organisms above, the bars usually become narrower towards the top.
Paper 1 (Foundation), Paper 2 (Foundation), Paper 3 (Higher), Paper 4 (Higher)
A diagram whose bar widths represent the biomass present at successive trophic levels in a food chain.
Revise: Pyramids of BiomassA pyramid of biomass adds this missing information. It represents the biomass at each trophic level: producers form the bottom level, followed by primary consumers, secondary consumers and any higher consumers.