Question

What are the three types of ecological pyramids? What information is conveyed by each pyramid with regard to structure, function and energy in the ecosystem?

Answer 1

The three ecological pyramids that are usually studied are

1. pyramid of number
2. pyramid of biomass and
3. pyramid of energy.

• Any calculations of energy content, biomass, or numbers has to include all organisms at that trophic level. No generalisations we make will be true if we take only a few individuals at any trophic level into account. Also a given organism may occupy more than one trophic level simultaneously. One must remember that the trophic level represents a functional level, not a species as such. A given species may occupy more than one trophic level in the same ecosystem at the same time; for example, a sparrow is a primary consumer when it eats seeds, fruits, peas, and a secondary consumer when it eats insects and worms.
• In most ecosystems, all the pyramids, of number, of energy and biomass are upright, i.e., producers are more in number and biomass than the herbivores, and herbivores are more in number and biomass than the carnivores. Also, energy at a lower trophic level is always more than at a higher level.