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Energy is described by a pyramid diagram (the ecological pyramid). There are 4 layers in the pyramid. The bottom layer is producers. They produce all the energy that goes up the pyramid. The second layer is the primary consumers, or herbivores, who eat the producers. Next, there is the secondary consumer layer, the organisms in it eat other consumers. Finally, there are tertiary consumers eat secondary and primary consumers.

Note: as you go up the pyramid, the original energy from the level below it is reduced to 10% of the original energy from the level below it. The primary consumers get 10% of the energy the producers made, and so on, so the secondary consumers get 1% of the original energy, and the tertiary get 0.1% if the energy!

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_pyramid for a picture of the ecological pyramid.

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