AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -As you move up the pyramid, through the trophic levels to primary, secondary and tertiary consumers, the amount of energy decreases and the levels become smaller. While energy can not be created or destroyed is it released as heat within each level. Approximately only 10% of energy is passed from one level to the next.

Detailed explanation-2: -Producers are at the bottom of the pyramid because they are able to transform the sun’s energy into a large amount of plant energy through the process of photosynthesis. Producers are the base of energy for most food chains and food webs. Animals that eat plants make up the next level.

Detailed explanation-3: -An energy pyramid is a model that shows the flow of energy from one trophic, or feeding, level to the next in an ecosystem. The model is a diagram that compares the energy used by organisms at each trophic level. The energy in an energy pyramid is measured in units of kilocalories (kcal).

Detailed explanation-4: -Pyramids of Biomass, Energy, and Numbers The amount of energy available to one trophic level is limited by the amount stored by the level below. Because energy is lost in the transfer from one level to the next, there is successively less total energy as you move up trophic levels.