Transfer of biomass

Transfer of biomass

A pyramid of biomass is largest at the bottom and decreases as we go up the levels as biomass is lost between the different trophic levels.
- Not all ingested material is absorbed, some is egested as faeces.
- A lot of absorbed material is lost as waste, such as carbon dioxide and water in respiration and water and urea in urine.
- Large amounts of glucose are used in respiration.
Efficiency of biomass transfers is equal to the biomass in the higher trophic level divided by the biomass of the lower trophic level.
Producers transfer about 1% of the incident energy from light (from the sun) for photosynthesis.
Only approximately 10% of the biomass from each trophic level is transferred to the level above it.
As biomass and energy are lost at each level up the food chain, often the number of organisms decreases from one trophic level to the next.
However, if level 2 was larger than level 1, then the herbivores may eat all of the plants, affecting the food chain.

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