Question

Study the food chain below, correct it and convert into a pyramid of energy
Mulberry -> Sparrow -> Caterpillar -> Kite

Answer 1

Food chain can simply be defined as the flow of energy from one trophic level to another in the form of food. Trophic level refers to the different stages in the food chain such as producers, primary consumers, etc. Ecological pyramids can be defined as the representations of flow of energy, the biomass etc., at each trophic level.

Complete answer:
As it is mentioned in the hint, the food chain is a linear flow of energy in the form of food e=which means energy is transferred through the food. Food is the major source of energy for all living organisms. Some organisms can prepare their own food, while the others depend upon other organisms. When I say some organisms can prepare food it doesn’t mean that they can cook. What I actually mean is that living organisms like green plants use sunlight to make their source of energy by a process called photosynthesis.
With that introduction let’s talk about different trophic levels and see how the energy moves on from one trophic level to another. The starting of a food chain is usually the autotrophic organisms like green plants that prepare their own food and do not depend on other organisms. They are called the primary producers or simply called the producers.
Next comes the consumers. Primary consumers are those organisms that feed on these autotrophic plants. All the consumers are heterotrophic organisms, meaning they cannot prepare their own food but depend on other organisms for food. The organisms that feed on primary consumers are termed as secondary consumers and similarly the organisms that feed on secondary consumers are called the tertiary consumers. Further we can also see quaternary consumers who feed on these tertiary consumers.
So, going by the information above we can infer that the mulberry plant is the producer. The caterpillar that feeds on the mulberry plant is the primary consumer. Next, the sparrow which feeds on the caterpillar is the secondary consumer and finally, the kite is the tertiary consumer which feeds on smaller birds like sparrow. The correct food chain is as follows:
Mulberry -> Caterpillar -> Sparrow -> Kite
This flow of energy can be represented as a pyramid of energy as shown below:

Note: The ecological pyramid can be upright or inverted. In the above example it is an upright pyramid. At each trophic level only about 10% of energy gets transferred and thus limits the amount of trophic levels in a food chain. The energy is the highest at the lowest trophic level.