Monday, May 13

Pyramid of Biomass


Pyramid of Biomass is the graphic representation of biomass of the successive trophic levels of an Eco system. Biomass refers to the total weight of dry matter present in the ecosystem at anyone time. The pyramid of biomass indicates the gradual reduction in biomass at each trophic level from base to top. The total biomass of producers is much more than the total biomass of herbivores. Like wise the total biomass of the third level will be less than the herbivores and so on. The pyramid of biomass are generally upright, but in case of parasites, the pyramid of biomass is inverted. Similarly, if organisms of lower levels are much smaller than those of higher levels, biomass pyramid may be inverted.                                                            

Examples of Pyramid of Biomass.1


Pyramid of Biomass in a Marine ecosystem

In the marine Eco system the Phytoplankton occupy the basic trophic level and the next trophic level is occupied by the Zoo plankton, the third and fourth are occupied by carnivores such as worms, and molluscs and carnivores fishes respectively. Here too the biomass falls in a graded manner from the basic trophic level to higher trophic level.

Examples of Pyramid of Biomass.2


Pyramid of Biomass in  a  grass land 
In a grass land the biomass of grasses is the maximum and it gradually decreases towards the consumer level. That is  the biomass is decrease in this order. Grasses have higher biomass than that of snake  and snake have higher biomass than that of Hawk.
                                                 Grass ------------> Snake -------------> Hawk

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