Food chains at Mono Lake
Coyote
California gull
Part of the Mono Lake food web.
Brine flies
Benthic algae
Brine shrimp
Planktonic algae
1
Biomass
How much mass there is of a particular living organism in a certain area.
2
Energy Pyramid
In general the plants have the most biomass in an ecosystem followed by the herbivores. The carnivores have the least biomass.
3
When we go from a lower level to the next one up, the general rule is that the biomass is 1/10 of the lower level's biomass.
Brine flies
1kg
Coyote
10 kg California gull
100 kg
Brine shrimp
1000 kg
Planktonic algae
Benthic algae
4
How energy is used
Movement
Growth and Reproduction
Maintenance
Waste
How energy is lost from the ecosystem
This decrease in biomass is due to the biomass being Heat
used as food. Most of the food is used for energy to make all of the above list of activities happen for an organism. Very little of the biomass goes into growth and reproduction. Most of the food is converted into energy.
5
This shows the change in biomass from one level to another with the energy leaving the system as it is used for different activities.
Carnivores
Maintenance
Movement
Waste
Herbivores
Maintenance
Waste
Producers
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