Trophic Levels and Ecological Pyramids
There are three main types of ecological pyramids, but before we discuss the types of pyramids, we must ask, "what is an ecological pyramid?"
Ecological Pyramids
Ecological pyramids show the relative amount of energy or matter contained within each trophic level in a given food chain or food web. Trophic Level
Each step in a food chain or food web is called a trophic level. The trophic level that makes up the base of an ecological pyramid are producers. The organisms that feed off of the producers are called primary consumers. The next trophic level is the secondary consumer level and is made up of organisms that feed off of primary consumers. The last trophic level that we will study is the tertiary consumer level, which consists of organisms that feed off of the secondary consumers. |
The Three Ecological Pyramids
There are three ecological pyramids that ecologists use to show the relationship among the different trophic levels. The three pyramids are the pyramid of energy, the pyramid of biomass, and the pyramid of numbers.
The pyramid of energy represents the total energy that is created from the sun by primary producers and where the energy goes as it moves through the different trophic levels.
The pyramid of biomass shows the total amount of biomass shows the relative amount of organic matter available for consumption by the next higher trophic level.
The pyramid of numbers shows the population, or the relative number of organisms available for consumption by the next higher trophic level.
The pyramid of energy represents the total energy that is created from the sun by primary producers and where the energy goes as it moves through the different trophic levels.
The pyramid of biomass shows the total amount of biomass shows the relative amount of organic matter available for consumption by the next higher trophic level.
The pyramid of numbers shows the population, or the relative number of organisms available for consumption by the next higher trophic level.