Question

Pyramid of numbers in a forest ecosystem is
A) Upright
B) Inverted
C) Irregular
D) Linear

Answer 1

An ecological pyramid exhibits the relationship existing between the productivity, biomass, and the energy exhibited by the organisms at different trophic levels. Different ecosystems feature different pyramids.

Complete answer:
Pyramid of numbers is helpful in representing the organism number across each trophic level.

Option A: The pyramid of numbers represents the individual organism count across different trophic levels. Within a forest ecosystem, the producers represent the large size trees which function as the pyramid base. The herbivores such as deer, fruit-eating birds, and elephants, etc form the primary consumers. These ranks lower than the primary producers. Followed by this, you have a decreasing number across each successive trophic level. Thus, a pyramid of numbers in a forest ecosystem is an upright one. Therefore, this is the correct option.
Option B: The pyramid of numbers is inverted in the case of parasitic food chain and forest ecosystem. Therefore, this is the incorrect option.
Option C: As the number of organisms at every level of the pyramid can vary, the pyramid of numbers can have an irregular shape. But in case of forest ecosystems, there is a regularity seen, therefore, this is the incorrect option.
Option D: Pyramid of numbers cannot be linear, therefore, this is the incorrect option.

Thus, the correct answer is option (A) Upright.

Note: The importance of pyramid of numbers are,
i) They can be used to determine how the population of a particular species can affect the other.
ii) It can serve as the basis for quantitative analysis of an ecosystem.