Question

Which type of pyramid of energy is inverted?
A) Grassland
B) Tree
C) Both (A) and (B)
D) None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Energy of pyramid is the representation of energy in the interaction of the consumers and producers in an ecosystem. The heat is a loss at every step in the energy pyramid and thus can be increasingly forming an upright pyramid. The base of the inverted pyramid has a narrower base and wider towards the tip.

Step by step answer: The pyramids are the graphical representation of the relation between the producers and the consumers in the ecosystem. The ecological pyramids were developed by Charles Elton in 1927 and are therefore called Eltonian pyramids. They represent the sequences in the food chain. It shows the stages like producers, primary consumer, secondary consumers and tertiary consumers. The shape of the pyramid can be inverted, upright and also spindled. The inverted pyramids are where there is less number of consumers and more amount of consumers and keeps on increasing as we go up to consumers region (pyramid of number). The upright is where the producers are high and go on decreasing as we go up to consumers region. The pyramids can represent number, energy or biomass and are called a pyramid of a number, pyramid of energy or pyramid of biomass respectively. The pyramid of energy shows the relationship between producers and consumers in terms of energy. This type of pyramid is always upright as there is a loss of heat at each step. Lindermann proposed a law where he stated that the energy is only retained at every step of the food chain and rest is lost. Thus, none of the energy pyramids is inverted.
Hence, the correct answer is option D.

Note: Ecological pyramids begin with producers on the bottom (such as plants) and proceed through the various trophic levels (such as herbivores that eat plants, then carnivores that eat flesh, than omnivores that eat both plants and flesh, and so on). The highest level is at the top of the food chain.