ecological pyramids, food chain and food web
TRANSCRIPT
Ecological Pyramids, Food Chain and Food Web
by: Liwayway Memije-Cruz
What is an ecological pyramid?
• a graphical representation designed to show the biomass or productivity at each trophic level in a particular ecosystem.
Number Pyramid
• shows the number of organisms in each trophic level and does not take into consideration the size of the organisms and over-emphasizes the importance of small organisms. In a pyramid of numbers the higher up one move, so each consecutive layer or level contains fewer organisms than the level below it.
Biomass Pyramid
• shows the total mass of the organisms in each trophic level.
Energy pyramid. • shows the total amount of
energy present in each trophic level.
• indicates the loss of energy from one trophic level to the next.
• clearly illustrates that the energy transfer from one trophic level to the next is accompanied by a decrease due to waste and the conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy and heat energy.
Food Chain
• the feeding of one organism upon another in a sequence of food transfers .
• the chain of transfer of energy from one organism to another.
• the passage of energy from one tropic level to the next as a result of one organism consuming another.
• simply who eats whom.
GRAZING FOOD CHAIN
• one which goes from green plants to grazing herbivores and finally to carnivores.
DETRITUS FOOD CHAIN
• one, which goes from dead organic matter to microorganisms and then to detritus feeding organisms.
Food Web
• an interlinked food chains.