Lesson 7:

Ecological
Pyramids
Unlike nutrients such as nitrogen and carbon
which are cycled through an ecosystem, Energy flows through an
energy is never cycled. Energy in an ecosystem
ecosystem is transferred from one energy
level to the next.

The most important energy source in an ecosystem is sunlight which is made available
to primary producers (green plants, algae and some bacteria) by means of the process
of photosynthesis. The products (organic products) of photosynthesis made by the
producers are then used as food for subsequent organisms for example primary and
secondary consumers. Energy predominantly flows in a chain of dependence. This
chain of energy dependence in an ecosystem is what is known as a FOOD CHAIN.
Within a food chain when an organism eats another, the energy that the first organism
possessed is transferred to the other organism upon being eaten. Thus energy is
transferred only in one direction in an ecosystem. This transferal of energy is
unproportioned and insufficient to meet the energy requirements of the subsequent
organism. Additionally, most of this transferred energy is lost or escapes in the system
as heat.
Food chains, like food webs, gives information about the feeding relationships of
organisms giving only a qualitative but not a quantitative indication as the feeding
relationship that exists in actuality. A quantitative indication of the feeding relationships
within an ecosystem is provided by an ecological pyramid. In practice, there are three
types of pyramids: Pyramid of Numbers (PON), Pyramid of Biomass (POB) and
Pyramid of Energy (POE).

All three types of ecological pyramids provide a comparison between ecosystems,

seasonal variation within an ecosystem and changes which may occur within the
ecosystem. The procedure for constructing or gathering data for the construction of
each pyramid. Table 1 gives a brief preview of each pyramid.
Table 1: Overview of each ecological pyramid

Pyramid Overview
Pyramid of Counting of all the organisms at each trophic level in a given
Numbers (PON) area
Pyramid of The weighing of the mass (usually the dry body mass) of an
Biomass (POB) organism and placing each is an appropriate trophic level in a
given area.
Pyramid of Energy Monitoring the energy content of each organism and placing
(POE) each in the appropriate trophic level. Considered to be the
most important ecological pyramid due to the fact that it deals
specifically with the energy being transferred through an
ecosystem

Pyramid of Numbers (PON)

PONs are the easiest type of ecological pyramids to construct. Construction of a PON
normally involves the counting of organisms in a given area and placing them at/in their
appropriate trophic level. Usually as the PON progress, the numbers decrease as can
be seen at each successive trophic level. Each trophic level (even with the other two
ecological pyramids) are represented by a rectangle which is proportional to the number
of organisms in that trophic level. Table 2 notes the merits and demerits of a PON.

Table 2: Merits and Demerits of PONs

Advantages
1) Data is easy to access as it is easy to
count the number of organisms
Disadvantages
1) It is difficult to decipher and
subsequently to place or categorize
an organism within its particular
trophic level.
2) Another difficulty which may arise is
that it might prove to be extremely
tedious to create a PON which has a
great range of numbers.
3) PONs distort or does not quite give an
accurate representation of what is
happening within an ecosystem. To
illustrate due to the fact that the
producers vary greatly in one blade of
grass for example will be the same
treatment as the size of a massive
tree.
Pyramid of Biomass (POB)
Some of the problems associated with a PON can be solved using a POB. Instead of
using the raw numbers of each organism at a given trophic level to construct an
ecological pyramid, a POB uses the weight – usually the dry body mass – of an
organism in order to place each organism in
the appropriate trophic level. Dry body mass is Mass per unit area is used
more useful than the wet body mass. as the measurement for
Representative organisms (individuals or terrestrial habitats while
specimen) are killed then dried and weighed volume per unit area is the
and subsequently the results are recorded and
measurement used for both
calculations are done to determine the trophic
level of each organism, mass per unit aquatic environments.
area/volume.

Although POBs are said to be better than PONs, POBs are associated with numerous
problems. To begin there are problems associated with the determination of standard
biomass. The first is that if the rate of consumption is the same as the rate of
production, then the POB construct will not any productivity. The amount of energy and
materials passing through a particular trophic level at a given time for example a year.
To demonstrate a fertile pasture that is intensely grazed by cattle can have the same
rate of productivity as an unfertile pasture which is ungrazed. The second, and last is
that if producers are small such as microscopic algae, the rate of turnover is usually
high. The standing biomass is small when juxtaposed to a tree but both will have the
same rate of productivity.

Problems with the standing biomass are not the only challenges ecologists faced when
constructing POBs. Table 3 below lists the additional disadvantages of using POBs as
ecological pyramids in deciphering organisms’ trophic levels.
Table 3: Disadvantages of Pyramids of Biomass

1. More laborious than the construction of a PON

2. Expensive in terms of time and energy
3. Gives no indication as to the rate of productivity and or consumption
4. Due to the fact that a POB can only be constructed using the dry body mass of
organism, the organism must be killed hence the construction of POBs involve
destructive means.
5. The standing biomass can be misleading. The standing biomass is the
biomass which is taken (in a POB) at the time of sampling.
Pyramid of Energy (POE)
A pyramid of energy (POE) is the ideal way (although not without its own demerits) or
representing organisms at each trophic level within an ecosystem. POEs take into
account the rate of production and as such each rectangle is representative of the
amount of energy passing through that particular trophic level in a given period of time.
Additionally, POEs also consider the weight of each organism, as not all organisms
have or provide the same energy content within the ecosystem. Like with all the other
ecological pyramids discussed earlier, POEs are used to compare ecosystems,
seasonal variations within ecosystems as well as
changes within a specific ecosystem. However, Inverted pyramids are not
there is an added advantage as compared to PONs obtained.
and POBs as with a POE the relative importance of
populations within an ecosystem can be compared.

Since a POE was energy intake or the

rate of production to decipher trophic
POEs are considered to be the most
levels, solar energy may be added as useful of all the ecological pyramids.
an additional rectangle at the base of
the pyramid as it is the predominant energy source for the ecosystem.
Table 4 highlights the demerits of POEs.
Table 4: Disadvantages of a POE
1. Construction of a POE requires more measurement than that involved in the
construction of a PON/POB. With this noted the observation can thus be made
that data needed for the construction of POEs are relatively more difficult to
obtain than for a PON or POB
2. Like a POB, the organism must be killed for both the weight and energy
consumption of that organism to be measured. Hence like POBs, constructing
POEs are destructive.
3. An energy value is needed for given masses of organisms which involved
laborious calculations.

Overall, although ecological pyramids gives us a quantitative and qualitative information

about the feeding relationships of organisms within an ecosystem, there are challenges
faced by the ecologist with their construction. The first is that it is extremely difficult to
determine the trophic level of an organism and thus placing of organism within a
particular category becomes a tedious task. The second is that many in the scientific
community have great difficulty in considering all parts of a plant as a producer. Since
only some parts of the plant are photosynthetic and produce their own food such as the
leaves and fruits then areas such as the stem, bark and root should not be included as
part of the plant considered to be a producer. In addition, herbivores (primary
consumers) are very selective in which parts of the plant they eat. Thus since
herbivores do not eat all parts of a plant then not all parts should be considered to be a
producer. The finally difficulty is that dead organic matter are not usually included as
part of ecological pyramids as a bar. This is quite paradoxical as dead organic matter
utilize upward of 80% of all the energy flowing through an ecosystem. Dead organic
matter is not eaten by consumers but by decomposers within an ecosystem.