Question

"It is often said that the pyramid of energy is always upright. On the other hand, the pyramid of biomass can be both upright and inverted". Explain with the help of examples and sketches.

Answer 1

The number, biomass energy of organism gradually decreases and producer level to consumer level. This can be represented in the form of a pyramid which is known as the ecological pyramid. An ecological pyramid is the graphic representation of the number, biomass and the energy of the successive trophic level by ecosystem this helps in studying the ecosystem and identifying the energy transfer. For example, the pyramid of number is where the number of an individual at the trophic level decreases from the producer level to the consumer level. That is in an ecosystem the number of producers is for higher than the number of consumers. A number of producer per unit area is more in the pond ecosystem grassland ecosystem.

Energy flow in an ecosystem is from the producer level to the consumer level and this is shown by the pyramid of energy. Hence the amount of energy decreases from the producer level to the consumer level.