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Ecological Pyramid
• The amount of energy or matter can be
Vocabulary represented by an ecological pyramid.
Ecological • An ecological pyramid is a diagram that
pyramid
shows the relative amounts of energy or
matter contained within each trophic
level in a food chain or food web.
• There are three types of ecological
pyramids.
1. Energy pyramid
2. Biomass pyramid
3. Pyramid of numbers
Energy pyramid
• It shows the relative amounts of
energy available at each trophic level.
• Only about 10% of the energy
available within one trophic level is
transferred to organisms at the next
trophic level.
Energy Pyramid
3° consumer (0.1% of energy)
2° consumer (1% of energy)
1° consumer (10% of energy)
producer (100% of energy)
Biomass Pyramid
Vocabulary • The total amount of living tissue within
a given trophic level is called biomass.
Biomass
• Biomass is usually expressed in terms of
grams of organic matter per unit area.
g/m2
• It represents the amount of living
organic matter at each trophic level.
Typically, the greatest biomass is at the
base of the pyramid
Biomass Pyramid
Pyramid of Numbers
• Shows the relative number of
individual organisms at each
trophic level.
• Sometimes, the pyramid of
numbers does not always have the
pyramid shape.