An energy pyramid is ____.
A) a demonstration of the first law of thermodynamics
B) a representation of the decline in available energy as it travels through the trophic levels
C) fundamentally different from the pyramid of biomass and the pyramid of numbers
D) a demonstration of the interactions between species in a community
E) a representation of an ecosystem's diversity

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

An energy pyramid illustrates the reduction in available energy as it moves up through the trophic levels of an ecosystem, from producers to primary consumers, and so on. This reflects the inefficiency of energy transfer between trophic levels, typically around 10% efficiency, meaning most energy is lost as heat or used for metabolic processes at each level.

An Energy Pyramid Is ____