Pyramids! But wait... This isn't Eygpt... Or is it? :)
![Picture](/uploads/1/1/6/7/11674263/6231157.jpg?295)
Figure 2
Pyramids. And no, I don't mean the ones in the desert thousand miles away. I’m talking about Energy Pyramids. Energy Pyramids go hand-in-hand with food chains. Energy Pyramid's are the more technical version of a Food Chain. It shows how the energy is pasted from one organism to the next, through consumption. Food Chain and Energy Pyramids both have an unlimited amount of levels they can have, although there is a catch with energy. For the amount of energy that an organism has, when they are consumed, only 10% of the energy is passed on to the next level/ consumer.
For a good example, Grass is almost always located in the producer level. Say that the grass gets 5,000 kcal (unit of energy) from the sun. Then the grass is eaten by a mouse and the mouse gains only 500 kcal of energy from the grass. So say a cat eats the mouse and it will only gain 50 kcal of energy from the mouse, because 50 is ten percent of 500.
If you turn your attention to the picture to the middle left picture, it shows that the higher amount of energy an organism has, the larger the population is. Think about it, is there as may lions as mice? Or as many sharks as there is small fish? The higher up on the pyramid a organism is, the less amount of energy it is getting, so the more it has to consume, keeping the population numbers of the larger populations in check, creating a check and balance system.
For a good example, Grass is almost always located in the producer level. Say that the grass gets 5,000 kcal (unit of energy) from the sun. Then the grass is eaten by a mouse and the mouse gains only 500 kcal of energy from the grass. So say a cat eats the mouse and it will only gain 50 kcal of energy from the mouse, because 50 is ten percent of 500.
If you turn your attention to the picture to the middle left picture, it shows that the higher amount of energy an organism has, the larger the population is. Think about it, is there as may lions as mice? Or as many sharks as there is small fish? The higher up on the pyramid a organism is, the less amount of energy it is getting, so the more it has to consume, keeping the population numbers of the larger populations in check, creating a check and balance system.