How would you explain the paradox that the pyramid of biomass in sea is inverted because biomass of fishes exceeds that of phytoplankton?
Pyramid of energy is always upright, can never be inverted, because when energy flows from a particular trophic level to the next trophic level, some energy is always lost as heat at each step. Each bar in the energy pyramid indicates the amount of energy present at each trophic level in a given time or annually per unit area.However, there are certain limitations of ecological pyramids such as it does not take into account the same species belonging to two or more trophic levels.
The pyramid of biomass in sea is inverted because biomass of fishes exceeds that of phytoplankton. In this case the biomass of trophic level depends on the reproductive potential and the longevity of the member.Marine environments have inverted biomass pyramids. For example , the biomass of consumers (copepods, krill, shrimp, forage fish) is larger than the biomass of primary producers. This happens because the ocean's primary producers are tiny phytoplankton that grow and reproduce rapidly, so a small mass can have a fast rate of primary production. In contrast, terrestrial primary producers grow and reproduce slowly.
The pyramid of biomass in sea is inverted because biomass of fishes exceeds that of phytoplankton. In this case the biomass of trophic level depends on the reproductive potential and the longevity of the member.Marine environments have inverted biomass pyramids. For example , the biomass of consumers (copepods, krill, shrimp, forage fish) is larger than the biomass of primary producers. This happens because the ocean's primary producers are tiny phytoplankton that grow and reproduce rapidly, so a small mass can have a fast rate of primary production. In contrast, terrestrial primary producers grow and reproduce slowly.