Question

Cite an example of an inverted ecological pyramid.What kind of pyramid of energy would it have?

Answer 1

An ecological pyramid is a graphical representation designed to show the biomass or bioproductivity in a given ecosystem at each trophic level, including the trophic pyramid, the Eltonian pyramid, the energy pyramid, or sometimes the food pyramid.

Complete answer:
1.An energy pyramid shows how much energy is stored at each trophic stage in the form of new biomass, while a biomass pyramid shows how much biomass (the amount of living or organic matter found in an organism) is present in the organisms.
2.At - trophic stage, there is also a pyramid of figures reflecting the number of individual species. Energy pyramids are typically upright, although it is possible to invert or take other shapes from other pyramids.
3.Ecological pyramids begin with producers on the bottom, such as plants, and continue through the various trophic phases, such as herbivores eating plants, carnivores eating flesh, omnivores eating both plants and flesh, and so on. The top of the food chain is the highest level.
4.The quantity, biomass and energy of organisms are gradually decreasing from the level of the producer to the level of the consumer. This can be depicted in the form of an ecological pyramid called a pyramid.
5.The graphic representation of the number, biomass, and energy of the successive trophic levels of an ecosystem is the ecological pyramid.
In general, the pyramid of biomass in the sea is inverted. This is because at the higher trophic stages, the producers are tiny phytoplanktons that have marginal biomass compared to the species.

6.The output or turnover (the rate at which energy or mass is transferred from one trophic level to another of biomass at each trophic level is shown by the energy pyramid or productivity pyramid.
7.Productivity pyramids represent the flow of energy through the food chain rather than presenting a single snapshot in time.
8.Grams per square metre per year or calories per square metre per year are standard units. 9.This graph, as with the others, shows producers at the bottom and on top of higher trophic levels.
10.The main source of energy is the sun. Hence, producers have the highest level of energy. Energy often decreases when producers go to higher trophic stages. Therefore no inverted energy pyramid exists.

Note: As fish are large in size with a longer lifetime, and a number of generations of zooplanktons can be eaten by fish, fish biomass can be higher.
However just 10 percent of the biomass of one generation is passed on to the next trophic stage during transmission.
The cumulative total of the biomass of benthic animals and brown algae in the aquatic ecosystem exceeds that of other producers and consumers.