Pyramid of Biomass: Tree, Grassland and Marine

Pyramid of Biomass is the pyramid that is used to depict the relationship between biomass, bio productivity, number of various trophic levels in any ecosystem. It can also be termed as the Eltonian Pyramid or the ecological pyramid. It is used to represent the energy flow in a system that describes the available biomass in any particular trophic level of any energy level in a specific time.

Keyterms: Pyramid, Biomass, Bio productivity, Ecosystem, Trophic level, Enery flow, Eltonian Pyramid, Ecological pyramid, Living organisms

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Biomass

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Biomass is the mass of the living organisms that belong to an ecosystem at any sample size. There are two major kinds of biomass which include the species biomass and the community biomass. Species biomass is the biomass of a particular species while the community biomass is the biomass of all the species present in a territory. It is depicted as the dry weight measured in grams or calories per unit area. To measure biomass, one needs a bomb calorimeter.

The video below explains this:

Pyramid of Biomass Detailed Video Explanation:

Also Read: Mutualism

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Pyramid of Biomass

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The pyramid of biomass is the graphical representation of biomass availability at several trophic levels. Trophic level is the level or a stage that any living being attains in a food chain. In the pyramid of biomass, the 1st trophic level belongs to the producers present at the base, succeeded by the primary consumers of herbivores at the 2nd trophic level. After this there are the secondary or tertiary consumers, also called the carnivores at the topmost level. This representation depicts the flow of energy from the bottom to the top order, which is from the producers to the consumers. For a fact, there is only 10% energy transfer that takes place from one trophic level to another. The leftover energy gets used up in the different metabolic processes or is excreted out.

The biomass pyramid is of two kinds which include the upright and the inverted biomass pyramid. The different examples of the biomass pyramid are the grassland ecosystem, tree ecosystem, marine ecosystem, and many others.

Biomass Pyramid of Grassland Ecosystem

The Biomass Pyramid of the Grassland Ecosystem is of an upright kind. In the grassland ecosystem, the grasses attain the 1st trophic level with the maximum biomass, succeeded by the herbivores or the primary consumers at the 2nd ecosystem like rats, rabbits, etc. The third trophic level is occupied by the snakes, owls, lizards which fall under the category of secondary consumers and the topmost level is occupied by the tertiary consumers such as eagles. In a grassland ecosystem, the biomass at the base level is higher than that of the 1st level and further decreases in the other following levels. Biomass in an ecosystem is calculated by multiplying the number of organisms by the biomass of organisms at a particular trophic level.

Biomass Pyramid of Grassland Ecosystem

Biomass Pyramid of Tree Ecosystem

It is considered that the biomass pyramid is significantly better than the number pyramid. In a tree ecosystem, the number pyramid is not considered effective as there can be hundreds of insects present on a single oak tree. These insects in turn can be consumed by a few birds.

In a tree ecosystem, the producer is an oak tree, followed by the caterpillar or insects as the primary consumers, followed by the secondary consumers as woodpeckers. The biomass pyramid in the case of tree grassland is the upright one.

Biomass Pyramid of a Marine Ecosystem

In the case of a marine ecosystem, the biomass pyramid is an inverted one. Here, the biomass pyramid is an inverted one where the primary producers have less biomass than that of herbivores which are zooplanktons, which is further less than the primary carnivore which is small fishes. The maximum biomass is with the secondary carnivore or the large fishes.

The phytoplanktons or the producers can give sufficient energy as they reproduce more and live for a short period. If they have less biomass at any point, they increase their number as required by the zooplankton or the large fishes.

Also Read: Population

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Things to Remember

1. Biomass Pyramid is the graphical representation that determines the relationship between the factors such as numbers or biomass of different trophic levels.
2. Only 10% energy of one trophic level passes on to the other levels.
3. The biomass pyramid can be of two types: upright or inverted.
4. Biomass is the mass of all the living organisms that belong to a particular sample. It is measured by a bomb calorimeter.
5. The biomass is further classified into two types. This includes the species biomass and the community biomass.
6. The biomass pyramid of grassland and tree ecosystem is upright while the biomass pyramid of the marine ecosystem is inverted.
7. Biomass is calculated as the biomass of the organisms multiplied by the total organisms present at a specific trophic level of an ecosystem.

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