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A pyramid of energy or pyramid of productivity shows the production or turnover (the rate at which energy or mass is transferred from one trophic level to the next) of biomass at each trophic level. Instead of showing a single snapshot in time, productivity pyramids show the flow of energy through the food chain. Typical units are grams per ...
A biomass pyramid shows the amount of biomass at each trophic level. A productivity pyramid shows the production or turn-over in biomass at each trophic level. An ecological pyramid provides a snapshot in time of an ecological community. The bottom of the pyramid represents the primary producers . The primary producers take energy from the ...
Gross primary production (GPP) is the amount of chemical energy, typically expressed as carbon biomass, that primary producers create in a given length of time.Some fraction of this fixed energy is used by primary producers for cellular respiration and maintenance of existing tissues (i.e., "growth respiration" and "maintenance respiration").
Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, [1] and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how biomass is defined, e.g., only from plants, [2] from plants and algae, [3] from plants and animals. [4]
For example, assume 500 units of energy are produced by trophic level 1. One half of that is lost to non-predatory death, while the other half (250 units) is ingested by trophic level 2. One half of the amount ingested is expelled through defecation , leaving the other half (125 units) to be assimilated by the organism.
A food pyramid and a corresponding food web, demonstrating some of the simpler patterns in a food web A graphic representation of energy transfer between trophic layers in an ecosystem. Energy flow is the flow of energy through living things within an ecosystem. [1]
Carbon is a primary component of all known life on Earth, and represents approximately 45–50% of all dry biomass. [1] Carbon compounds occur naturally in great abundance on Earth. Complex biological molecules consist of carbon atoms bonded with other elements , especially oxygen and hydrogen and frequently also nitrogen , phosphorus , and ...
Bioenergy is a type of renewable energy that is derived from plants and animal waste. [1] The biomass that is used as input materials consists of recently living (but now dead) organisms, mainly plants. [2]