Energy Pyramids
Aligned to HS-LS2-4 — Next Generation Science Standards.
What this lesson teaches
Only about ten percent of the energy at one feeding level passes to the next; the rest is lost mostly as heat. This limits how many top predators an ecosystem can support.
Worked examples
Example 1
A meadow storing 10,000 units of energy in grass passes roughly 1,000 units to the grasshoppers and only about 100 to the birds that eat them.
Example 2
Roughly 90% of the energy is lost at each level, which is why food chains rarely run more than four or five links.
Example 3
This is also why eating plants feeds more people than eating the animals that ate the plants.
Practice questions
- From an energy pyramid, read the energy available at each trophic level.
- Calculate the energy reaching the third level if the producers hold 50,000 units.
- Use the ten percent rule to explain why food chains rarely have more than four or five links.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
Pirámides de energía
Solo alrededor del diez por ciento de la energía de un nivel de alimentación pasa al siguiente; el resto se pierde en su mayoría como calor. Esto limita cuántos depredadores tope puede sostener un ecosistema.
Ejemplo 1: Un prado que almacena 10,000 unidades de energía en el pasto transfiere aproximadamente 1,000 unidades a los saltamontes y solo unas 100 a las aves que se los comen.
Ejemplo 2: Cerca del 90% de la energía se pierde en cada nivel, por eso las cadenas alimenticias rara vez pasan de cuatro o cinco eslabones.
Ejemplo 3: Por eso también comer plantas alimenta a más gente que comer a los animales que comieron las plantas.
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