Energy pyramid
Information on energy pyramid
First you must know what an energy pyramid means. An energy pyramid shows the flow of energy through a food chain. The energy starts at the sun. (That is where we get all of our energy). As we can see by the energy pyramid, the producer, or grama grass in this case, gets 100% of all the sun's energy. As consumer's eat their food they acquire 10% of the last organisms energy, so the primary consumer gets 10% of the producer's energy. Then the secondary consumer gets 1% of the primary consumer's energy, meaning that the highest trophic level in this energy pyramid contains 1% of energy. Why is the energy lost though?
Energy is lost because of a process called cellular respiration. Cellular respiration uses the eaten organism's energy to carry out bodily functions and leaves a small amount of energy left over for the next organism to use.
Energy is lost because of a process called cellular respiration. Cellular respiration uses the eaten organism's energy to carry out bodily functions and leaves a small amount of energy left over for the next organism to use.