Question

Fill in the blanks: In an ecosystem dominated by trees the pyramid of number is ............... type.

Answer 1

The geographical area where different plants, animals and microbes live together interacting with each other and also with the nonliving parts of that area is known as an ecosystem. Thus, an ecosystem is made up of interacting living and nonliving components.

Complete step by step answer:
-In an ecosystem, the organisms are classified into different levels known as trophic levels on the basis
of their feeding behaviour.
-The producers like green plants constitute the lowest or first trophic level.
-The herbivores that feed on green plants constitute the next or second trophic level. The carnivores that feed on herbivores are called primary carnivores and they constitute the next or
third trophic level.
-The carnivores that feed on primary carnivores are called secondary carnivores and they constitute
the next or fourth trophic level.
-However, these trophic levels have no clear cut boundaries or definitions because some animals can feed on herbivores as well as producers. They are called omnivores. For example – bears are omnivores as they can eat plants as well as animals. So, a bear can be a part of more than one trophic level.
The relationship between different organisms at various trophic levels can be shown graphically. This
Graphical representation is called an ecological pyramid.
An ecological pyramid is of three types – pyramid of numbers that shows number of organisms in
each trophic level, pyramid of biomass that shows biomass of organisms in each trophic level and
pyramid of energy that shows flow of energy at each trophic level.
When the ecosystem is dominated by trees, the number of animals like birds and insects are much
higher than the number of trees. This is because a single tree is home to many birds and insects.
So, the pyramid of number will be inverted in which the trees (producers) will be less in numbers than
animals like birds and insects (consumers).
Thus, the answer is inverted type. In an ecosystem dominated by trees the pyramid of number is
inverted type.

Note: An ecosystem is of different types like terrestrial ecosystem (forest ecosystem, desert ecosystem, tundra ecosystem, and grassland ecosystem), and aquatic ecosystem (freshwater ecosystem and marine ecosystem). All of these ecosystems can show variations; though their structure will remain similar i.e. every ecosystem will consist of living components (producers, consumers and decomposers) and nonliving components (sunlight, soil, water, chemical compounds, moisture, wind etc.).