Ecological pyramids Flashcards
what will always be at the bottom of a pyramid
Producers
how do pyramids become inverted
Pyramids become inverted for short periods of time. This suggests that there may be more consumers than producers. This happens because of the size of organisms. This happens with rapidly reproducing organisms that can quickly rebalance the ecosystem.
what does bio mean
living
what does mass mean
amount of matter
what does biomass mean
the amount of matter a living thing is made of. Biomass is the collective weight of a population
how do you calculate biomass
the average weight of organism x number of organisms
what happens in a biomass pyramid becomes inverted
the ecosystem will collapse
why does each trophic level have less biomass
when biomass is consumed only 10% is turned into biomass, 80% is lost as heat energy and 10% is egested resulting in each trophic level having less biomass and fewer organisms. This loss of biomass limits food chains to 4 trophic levels
draw a simple biomass diagram
are you correct
explain why biomass pyramids’ shapes vary in a stable ecosystem
Because the size of the producers is enough to sustain the number of consumers. So, the bottom of the pyramid might be smaller because the producer is larger like a tree which means there are fewer of them
explain why the pyramid of numbers and biomass vary in shape sometimes
Because their weight does not correspond with the population size. There might not be many organisms in the population, but they take up more space. An inverted pyramid of numbers is caused when communities contain parasites.
describe what pyramids of energy are
Pyramids of energy show the rate at which energy is passed into the next trophic level. The energy of a food source is made up of the chemical bonds holding biomass together, therefore the pyramid of biomass and energy are the same.
