Activity AArctic food chains

Cape Farewell, Voyage of DiscoveryUnit 1: Life in the water

The Science of Global Warming

kPhyto plankton Zoo plankton Arctic Right whalek

Simple arctic food chain

In this food chain, which organism is aa producer?b primary consumer?c secondary consumer?

How is an Arctic Right whale adapted to feeding on zooplankton?

Draw a pyramid of biomass for this food chain.

The table shows data for 200 km3 of ocean around Svalbard.

organism

phytoplankton

zooplankton

arctic right whale

number in food chain

750,000,000,000

600,000,000

1

biomass in food chain

750 tonnes

200 tonnes

75 tonnes

Why is a pyramid of biomass more useful then a pyramid of numbers?

Question 2

Question 1

Question 3

Question 4

© Cape Farewell – This page may be copied solely for educational use in schools and colleges | Unit 1 | Activity A | Page 1 of 2

Illustrations not to scale

Activity AArctic food chains

Cape Farewell, Voyage of DiscoveryUnit 1: Life in the water

The Science of Global Warming

Which of these area herbivoresb carnivoresc omnivores?

Which of these area predators?b prey?c the top predator?

Use the ideas of food chains and biomass to explain why:a food chains are usually quite short.b polar bears are quite rare.c polar bears have large territories.

Question 5

Question 6

Question 7

Another arctic food chain

kPhyto plankton Zoo plankton Herring Arctic cod Polar beark k k

© Cape Farewell – This page may be copied solely for educational use in schools and colleges | Unit 1 | Activity A | Page 2 of 2

Illustrations not to scale