Pyramids of number, biomass and energy

• what do food chains show?

  • food chain starts with a producer - producers make their own food using energy from sun
  • producers eaten by primary consumers - eaten by secondary consumers - teritiary consumers
  • all these organisms die and get eaten by decomposers which break down dead material and waste
  • each stage is called a trophic level
• what are pyramids of biomass?

  • shows the mass of living material at stage of food chain - how much each organisms of each level would weight all together
  • the biomass levels decrease as you increase more organisms in the pyramid