Types of Ecological Pyramid Types
Detritus food chain
The flow of the detritus food chain can be seen in the following figure: Figure 2. Example of the detritus food chain.
In the picture above, it is known that detritus can be in the form of destruction of animal or plant tissue. In figure (a), detritus in the form of animal tissue remains is eaten by caterpillars and then rats, snakes and birds. But in the end, all these organisms can become detritus as well. Whereas in picture (b), detritus in the form of broken down plants is eaten by woodlice which is then eaten by birds.
c. Parasite food chain
Parasites are a term for organisms that live by harming other organisms (host). Characteristic of this type of food chain is that there are small organisms that prey on large organisms.
Consider the following parasitic food chain example. buffalo (blood) -> fleas ==> starlings ==> eagle
d. Saprofit food chain
The characteristics of the saprophytic chain begin with the decomposition of the dead bodies of living things by saprophytic organisms. Examples of saprophytic organisms are bacteria, fungi, and lichens. Saprofit is a term for organisms that are able to break down the remains of organisms that have died.
Saprophyte organisms are different from detritifors. Saprofit decomposes organic matter left over dead bodies into inorganic materials (minerals) that are absorbed again by plants. Pay attention to the following sample food chain saprofit. Weathered wood -> fungus -> chicken -> fox
Food webs
In an ecosystem generally not only consists of one food chain, but many food chains. Green plants are not only eaten by one organism, but can be eaten by a variety of primary consumers. For example: shoe flowers are eaten by caterpillars, caterpillars also eat mustard leaves. Mustard leaves are also eaten by grasshoppers, grasshoppers eaten by frogs and sparrows, sparrows also eat caterpillars, sparrows are eaten by eagles.
Mustard leaves are also eaten by rats, rats are eaten by eagles. As a result, in an ecosystem there is not only one food chain but many forms of the food chain. Food chains which are interconnected from one another are called food webs.
Ecological Pyramid
Ecological pyramid is a pyramid diagram that can illustrate the relationship between trophic level with trophic level, quantitatively in an ecosystem. In this pyramid, organisms that occupy the lower trophic level are relatively numerous in number. The higher the trophic level, the smaller the number of individuals. The trophic level consists of producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers.
Producers always occupy the first or lowest trophic level. Whereas herbivores or primary consumers occupy the second trophic level, secondary consumers occupy the third trophic level, tertiary consumers occupy the fourth trophic level or the top of the pyramid.
Types of Ecological Pyramid Types
Energy pyramid is a pyramid that describes the loss of energy at the time of food energy transfer at each trophic level in an ecosystem.
In the energy pyramid it is not only the total amount of energy that the organism uses at each trophic level of the food chain but also concerns the role of various organisms in energy transfer. In energy use, the higher the trophic level, the more efficient the use. However, the heat released in the energy transfer process becomes greater. The loss of heat in the process of respiration is also increasing from organisms with lower trophic levels to organisms with higher trophic levels.
As for productivity, getting to the top of the trophic level is getting smaller, so that the stored energy is getting less. Energy in the energy pyramid is expressed in calories per unit area per unit time.
Biomass Pyramid
The biomass pyramid is a pyramid that illustrates the reduction in energy transfer at each trophic level in an ecosystem. In the biomass pyramid each trophic level shows the dry weight of all organisms at the trophic level expressed in grams / m2. Generally the shape of the biomass pyramid will shrink towards the peak, because the energy transfer between trophic levels is inefficient. But the biomass pyramid can be inverted.
For example in the open ocean the producers are microscopic phytoplankton, while consumers are microscopic creatures to large creatures such as blue whales where the biomass of blue whales exceeds the producers. The peak of the biomass pyramid has the lowest biomass which means that the number of individuals is small, and generally the carnivorous individual at the top of the pyramid is large.
Pyramid of Amount
Namely a pyramid that describes the number of individuals at each trophic level in an ecosystem. Number pyramid generally shaped upward.
The number of pyramid organisms from the lowest trophic level to the peak is the same as other pyramids, namely producers, primary consumers and secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers. This means that the number of plants in the first trophic level is more than in animals (primary consumers) in the second trophic level, the number of secondary consumer organisms is less than the primary consumer, and the number of tertiary consumer organisms is less than secondary consumer organisms.