The phenomenon of decreasing biomass at each successive trophic level in a food pyramid can be attributed to the inefficiency of energy transfer between levels. Energy flow in ecosystems follows the 10% rule, where only about 10% of the energy from one trophic level is transferred to the next; the rest is lost as heat through metabolic processes. This means that while plants (producers) harness solar energy and support high biomass, as energy moves up to herbivores (primary consumers) and then to carnivores (secondary and tertiary consumers), the total biomass decreases significantly due to energy losses. Consequently, there are many more plants than there are herbivores, and even fewer carnivores, illustrating that a stable ecosystem relies heavily on the foundational role of producers in capturing and storing energy.
In a food pyramid, there is typically less biomass at the top (i.e., there are very few individual tertiary consumers, whereas there are numerous individual producers). In three to five sentences, explain this phenomenon, citing evidence relating to energy flow and how plants support ecosystems. Please and thank you.
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