Food pyramid DUMMY
Afood pyramid is another way of representing the relationships between organisms in an
ecosystem.
Trophic levels and the food pyramid
- Producers: Plants are on the first level, or bottom of the pyramid, because they produce
their own organic food using energy from the sun and therefore have a lot of energy to
pass on. - Primary Consumers: Herbivores are on the second level because they feed off plants,
and there are less of them. - Secondary Consumers: Carnivores feed on herbivores so they get their energy from
plants indirectly and are on the third level.
Figure 9.16: Food pyramid.Trophic levels can be drawn as one of the following :
- pyramid of numbers:which shows the total number of organisms in each trophic level.
- pyramid of biomass:which shows the total amount of biomass ( living matter ) at each
trophic level. - pyramid of energy:which shows the total amount of energy contents in the biomass
of each trophic level.
Most pyramids are drawn asenergypyramids, and are always triangular, whereas number
pyramids are not.
Chapter 9. Biospheres to ecosystems 279