Ecosystems NEW AlevelTransfer of biomass; Manipulating transfer; Recycling in ecosystems; Succession

This is a lesson series for the Chapter: Ecosystems for the NEW OCR A-level specification which has vast overlap with the AQA spec. There are a total of 87 PowerPoint presentation slides partitioned into five individual lessons with identifiable lesson objectives. The scheme of work has been developed to engage your students through an array of different learning activities and will form the basis for the lesson series. It comes complete with answers to activities and practice exam questions so you don’t need to spend the time hunting for answers.

It includes accurate and high quality information slides interspersed with pupil activities for the following topics within the chapter on Ecosystems:

1. Ecosystems: matching the feeding relationships; naming ecosystems; biotic and abiotic factors; dynamic changes in an ecosystem; practise exam question

2. Transfer of biomass: starter - what’s the question; energy flow through ecosystems - covering terminology; draw an energy flow diagram - example included; food webs and trophic levels activities; how energy is lost; efficiency of energy transfer; comparison of pyramid of numbers versus biomass; calculating efficiency

3. Manipulating transfer of biomass: starter - compare terms; what is productivity; maximising productivity - link methods to their explanation task; broiler chicken video; ways to maximise secondary productivity; summary questions and answers included

4. Recycling within ecosystems: starter - name the compound; the importance of root nodules; activitiy: inserting formulas for each compound in the nitrogen cycle; activity: gap fill of the nitrogen cycle and applying a key to identify stages of the cycle; practise exam question - with answers; carbon cycle gap fill

5. Succession: primary succession; examples of pioneer species; secondary succession; climax communities; sand dunes; deflected succession; practise exam questions - with answers