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Why is a pyramid the best shape to show how energy move through and ecosystem?
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
A pyramid can represent the energy transfer in an ecosystem in two ways:
First, right side up a pyramid can represent the number or volume of organisms at each level of the food chain. The energy transferred from each organism lower down on the food chain to the next higher up is not 100 percent efficient, so fewer organisms can exist at each higher level of the food chain.
Inverted, the pyramid is a simple model of how much total energy it takes to produce a single organism at a level in the food chain. organisms at the bottom taking the least, and those at the top taking the most total energy.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoBecause biomass, energy, nutrients, etc. (depending on what exactly you are interested in measuring) are passed down through the various trophic levels of given ecosystem, ex: from autotrophs -> herbivores and detritivores <--> carnivores and detritivores -> decomposers. It's always a pyramid because you can't extract more energy, for example, from a trophic level than what is present in that trophic level. In fact, the transfer of energy from one trophic level to another is far less than 100% efficient because energy is lost in the form of sexual reproduction, homeostasis, heat, etc. Therefore, it will always be a pyramid shape, with producers on bottom and consumers on top, no matter what parameter you're interested in tracking through an ecosystem.
Wiki User
∙ 10y agoA pyramid is the best shape to show how energy moves though an ecosystem because when an animal eats another animal they only get one- tenth of the energy the animal that they ate had. So, every time something is eaten, the percentage of energy keeps getting smaller.
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What type of pyramid shows energy flow through an ecosystem?
An energy pyramid portrays the flow of energy by displaying the plants at the bottom, who get the most energy from the sun, and then gradually moving up to herbivores as it shows the transferal of energy from the plants to the herbivores and how the amount of energy received is significantly less than the original amount. The pyramid then shows how energy is passed from carnivore to carnivore and decreases in amount each time. The pyramid gets smaller as you reach the top of the food chain because not as much energy can be acquired by eating an animal that has eaten another animal that has eaten a plant that received energy from the sun. The energy decreases as it is passed from one creature to the next and the pyramid depicts this as it gets smaller toward the top. Helpful?
Why is an ecosytem's energy pyramid wide at the base and narrow at the top?
The trophic levels are stacked in blocks, with the block representing producers forming the foundation of the pyramid. The size of the block is proportional to the biomass in each trophic level. The pyramid owes its steep shape to the loss of 90% or so of the energy with each food transfer in the chain. Found in my BIO 100 book. By Campbell Reece Simon.
What are pyramid of numbers and pyramids of biomass?
Pyramids of numbers show the amount of organisms in the chain, and pyramids of biomass show the biomass (mass of living things) of each organism in the chain. It is all shown in a pyramid shape. Definition of Pyramid of numbers: A pyramid of numbers shows graphically the population of each level in a food chain. Definition of Pyramid of Biomass: Pyramid of Biomass represents the total biomass at each trophic level. A pyramid of numbers shows the population size of each species in a food chain. A pyramid of biomass shows how much ENERGY each animal is getting from its food.
Why is the flow of energy unidirectional?
Energy flowing through a system has to come from somewhere and has to go somewhere because there are two laws of Physics that apply.Energy can nether be created nor destroyed only changed - transformed.Any time you make an energy transformation, some of the starting energy is going to be lost as heat.In the Biosphere the source of energy is the Sun, sunlight. This is trapped and stored by plants (producers). As plants use this energy to live and grow, they give of heat (as per law 2) so the Sun's energy is transformed.Then along come animals that eat plants and steal the plant's food stores, these animals have to be more active than plants so, as they live and move, these too give of heat. More of the Sun's original energy is lost (as per law 2).The plant eaters are then predated by carnivores, the carnivores steal the herbivore's food stores and use it to live and move and these too give off heat. More of the Sun's original energy is lost (as per law 2).Thus you can see that the process of life can be looked at as a flow of energy from organism to organism with this energy gradually being lost (into space) as heat. High quality energy (visible light) straight from the Sun is transformed into low quality energy (heat) by living things.The second law means that you can not turn low quality energy into high quality energy and this make the path of energy transformation uni-directional.
When a 'high energy' bond of ATP is broken the released energy does what?
It usually changes the shape of a protein molecule. This is the way life works.
Why is an energy pyramid is the shape of a pyramid?
It is in the shape of a pyramid to show at the bottom it is big which gives 10% and then it gives off smaller and then smaller amounts of energy to make the point at the top.
Why is a energy pyramid in the shape of a pyramid?
A energy pryramid shows that each feeding level has less energy than the one below it.
Where does an enery pyramid get its name from?
An energy pyramid gets its name from its graphical shape which looks like a pyramid.
How would an ecosystem with a greater number of individual herbivores than individual producers affect the shape of the ecosystem's pyramid of numbers?
It expresses biomass at different trophic levels in an ecosystem.
The flow of energy in an ecosystem can be illustrated by a pyramid Why is less energy available at the top of the pyramid than at the bottom of the pyramid?
This is a confusing shape to use as an illustration. To the average person, the large base of the pyramid represents much energy stored compared to the diminishing storage space as you look higher and higher up the pyramid towards its peak. However, those that have studied the actual flow of pyramid energy have seen an upward movement of energy through the peak into the air above. So it's not necessarily true that more energy is flowing at or near the base than at the top. A mysterious flow of energy skyward which disrupts instrumentation on aircraft has caused the Egyptian authorities to forbid flying over the top of the pyramids at Gisa, for safety reasons.
Why is a pyramid shape used to represent the passing on of energy?
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What does a food chain represent?
A food chain represents how an animal eats a smaller animal.
What type of pyramid shows energy flow through an ecosystem?
An energy pyramid portrays the flow of energy by displaying the plants at the bottom, who get the most energy from the sun, and then gradually moving up to herbivores as it shows the transferal of energy from the plants to the herbivores and how the amount of energy received is significantly less than the original amount. The pyramid then shows how energy is passed from carnivore to carnivore and decreases in amount each time. The pyramid gets smaller as you reach the top of the food chain because not as much energy can be acquired by eating an animal that has eaten another animal that has eaten a plant that received energy from the sun. The energy decreases as it is passed from one creature to the next and the pyramid depicts this as it gets smaller toward the top. Helpful?
Why is the shape of the energy pyramid important to understand?
It's a cube and it's not important
What would cause an ecological pyramid to not have a typical pyramid shape?
if one organism has a lot of energy compared to the one that it ate.
How does the pyramid shape illustrate the fate of energy along a food chain?
An energy pyramid is like a food chain, because at the top of the pyramid, there is the most energy, and at the bottom there is the least energy. The same goes for a food chain, because the producer has 100% of the energy. The final consumer, or tursury consumer, has either little or no energy left from the primary, and secondary consumers, because they have used up almost all the energy breathing, moving and during digestion.
Could you please explain to me about food chains and pyramid of numbers?
For a food chain it means that every organism within an ecosystem provides energy for other organisms and food chains are a way of showing a step by step sequence of who eats whom in an ecosystem. Pyramid of numbers can ve drwn by counting the number of organisms at each trophic level in an ecosystem. When these numbers are then represented on a vertical graph, with the volume of each level representing the number of organisms at that level, the graph sometimes takes on a the general shape of a pyramid.
