Work through the list without notes. If you cannot do a statement, follow its link, then come back. Guide = study guide; Practice = practice questions.
Understanding
- I can explain how endotherms and ectotherms control body temperature, including behavioural regulation. (Guide: “Endotherms and ectotherms”; Practice Q4)
- I can describe what happens to an organism with a net energy gain and with a net energy loss. (Guide: “Energy budgets”; Practice Q5)
- I can explain why some organisms switch between asexual and sexual reproduction as energy supply changes. (Guide: “Reproductive strategies and energy”; Practice Q7)
- I can put population, community, ecosystem and biome in order and define each. (Guide: “Levels of organisation”)
- I can name the reservoirs and processes of the water, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, and what each of the five nitrogen-cycle steps converts. (Guide: Figure 2; Practice Q1, Q6)
- I can explain how photosynthetic and chemosynthetic autotrophs capture energy and how heterotrophs obtain it. (Guide: “Autotrophs” and “Heterotrophs”; Practice Q3)
Calculation and skills
- I can calculate net primary production and transfer efficiencies between trophic levels. (Guide: Worked example 1; Practice Q2, Q7)
- I can calculate an energy budget: assimilated energy, growth and net gain or loss. (Guide: Worked example 2; Practice Q5)
- I can read changes and trends from a data table, with units. (Practice Q4, Q6)
Reasoning
- I can explain why energy flows but matter cycles, and why food chains are short. (Guide: “Why so little energy reaches the top”; Practice Q5)
- I can predict how less sunlight or fewer producers changes populations and the number of trophic levels. (Guide: “Changes in energy availability”; Practice Q7)
- I can explain why the carbon cycle depends on the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. (Practice Q6)
All ticked? Move on to Topic 8.3, Population Ecology, or return to the course roadmap.