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🔺 How Energy Pyramids Work

Read an energy pyramid correctly, explain why it narrows upward, and distinguish energy from biomass and organism counts.

lesson

~10 min

to learn

🔬 Science

subject

Adults

level

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What you’ll learn

Energy pyramidsRead an energy pyramid as a model of energy available at successive trophic levels.Producers bring energy into an ecosystem, while metabolism and heat loss leave less available to support each higher level.

Questions this course answers

Why does an energy pyramid narrow upward?

Metabolism and other losses mean less energy remains available to support the next trophic level.

What should you check before interpreting an ecological pyramid?

Energy, biomass, and numbers are different measures and do not have to produce the same shape.

Which statement is accurate?

Energy availability declines at higher trophic levels, while biomass and organism counts can be upright, inverted, or other shapes.

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