Ecosystems — BIOLOGY STD 12 Science — Question

An ecological pyramid is a graphic representation of an ecological parameter like number of individuals present in various trophic levels of a food chain with producers forming the base and top carnivores forming the tip.

There are three types of ecological pyramids:

1. Pyramid of numbers.
2. Pyramid of biomass.
3. Pyramid of energy.

Limitations:

1. It assumes that food chains are simple. Simple food chains do not occur in nature. Instead food webs are present.
2. A simple species may operate at two or more trophic levels. Ecological pyramids have no method of accommodating such cases.