ECOLOGICAL
PYRAMIDS
Contents
01
ECOLOGICAL PYRAMID
Contents
02
PYRAMID OF NUMBERS.
Contents
03
PYRAMID OF BIOMASS.
Contents
04
PYRAMID OF ENERGY.
CONTENTS
IMPORTANCE OF ECOLOICAL PYRAMIDS
COMPARISON OF
INVERTED AND
UPRIGHT PYRAMIDS
ECOLOGICAL
PYRAMIDS
•An ecological pyramid is a graphical representation of the relationship between
different organisms in an ecosystem.
•Each of the bars that make up the pyramid represents a different trophic level, and
their order, which is based on who eats whom, represents the flow of energy.
•Energy moves up the pyramid, starting with the primary producers, or autotrophs ,
such as plants at the very bottom, followed by the primary consumers, which feed on
these plants, then secondary consumers, which feed on the primary consumers, and
so on.
•They are also known as Eltonian Pyramid, named
after the Charles Elton who developed the concept of
Ecological Pyramid.
•Some of the common terms used here are as
follows:
•ECOSYSTEM
•TROPHIC LEVELS
•BIOMASS
BIOMASS
refers to the organic
material that is used for
production of energy.
ECOSYSTEM
a biological community of
interacting organisms and their
physical environment.
TROPHIC LEVEL
The trophic level of an organism is the
number of steps it is from the start of
the chain.
PYRAMID OF NUMBER
•Pyramid of the number shows the
presence of total no. of organisms of
different species at each Trophic level.
•Depending upon the size and
Biomass of the ecosystem the
Pyramid of Number can be upright/
inverted.
•No of organism successively
decrease as we progress from
lower to higher trophic level (i.e.
from producer to the consumers).
•In the inverted pyramid of
numbers, the organism who are
dependent on lower trophic level
grows closer towards the apex as in
case of Parasitic Food Chain
•In this food chain primary producer is
a large tree which supports a large no.
of parasites or hyper-parasites as
primary and secondary consumers.
Thus the resultant shape of the
pyramid is inverted.
PYRAMID OF BIOMASS
You can Resize without
It is aquality
graphical
losing
representation of
You can Change Fill
biomass
(total amount
Color
&
Line
Color or organic
of living
matter in an
ecosystem) present in
unit area in different
trophic levels.
FREE
The
pyramid of biomass
PPT
may be "inverted“ TOO.
TEMPLATES
www.allppt.com
•Pyramid of Biomass includes the total weight of the
organic matter
•Pyramid of Biomass measure the total biomass in grams
per meter2 or Calories per meter2 and this also signifies the
amount of matter lost between successive trophic levels
PYRAMID OF BIOMASS
YouIncan
Resize
without
case
of the
losing quality
inverted pyramid,
You can Change Fill
the total weight of the
Color &
producer
is smaller
Line
Color
than the total weight
of the primary or
secondary
consumers.
FREE MAINLY
HAPPENS
PPT
IN MARINE
TEMPLATES
ECOSYSTEMS
www.allppt.com
PYRAMID OF ENERGY
•It is a graphical structure representing
the flow of energy through each
trophic level of a food chain over a
fixed part of the natural environment.
•An energy pyramid represents the
amount of energy at each trophic
level and loss of energy at each is
transferred to another trophic level.
•Energy pyramid, sometimes called
pyramid of productivity, is useful in
quantifying the energy transfer from
one organism to another along the food
chain.
The pyramid of energy is always upright
since the total energy available for
utilization for the successive trophic level is
less than the energy available for the
previous trophic level.
IMPORTANCE OF ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS
They show the feeding of different
organisms in different ecosystems.
It shows the efficiency of
energy transfer.
further damage can be
prevented.
Maintenance of
equilibrium in the nature
The condition of the ecosystem
can be monitored
COMPARISON OF INVERTED AND UPRIGHT
PYRAMIDS
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