Question

In a food pyramid, there is typically less boimass at the top (i.e, there are very few individual tertiary consumers, whereas there are numerous individual producers). In 3-5 sentences explain this phenomenon citing evidence related to energy flow and how plants support ecosystems.
School appropriate

Answer 1

In a food pyramid, there is less biomass at the top because energy becomes less available as it flows through each trophic level. As energy is transferred from one level to the next, much of it is lost as heat or used for metabolic processes. Plants, as primary producers, play a crucial role in supporting ecosystems by capturing energy from the sun through photosynthesis. They convert this energy into organic matter, providing nourishment for other organisms on higher trophic levels. This explains why there are more individual producers at the bottom of the food pyramid compared to tertiary consumers at the top.