Question

The energy pyramid describes the transfer of energy between organisms in a marine ecosystem. The phytoplankton at the bottom of the pyramid take in and store a certain amount of the Sun's energy. Does all of the energy stored by the phytoplankton reach the top level of the pyramid?A.

Yes, because the amount of energy in an ecosystem is constant since energy cannot be created or destroyed.
B.
No, because some of the energy is lost to the environment as heat as it is transferred between organisms.
C.
Yes, because plants transfer all of their energy to herbivores, who transfer all of their energy to carnivores.
D.
No, because very few of the organisms in the energy pyramid eat the phytoplankton and receive their energy.

Answer 1

B.No, because some of the energy is lost to the environment as heat as it is transferred between organisms.

Answer 2

The correct answer is option B, that is, no because some of the energy is lost to the environment as heat as it is transferred between the organisms.

Phytoplankton is single-celled species found in aquatic ecosystems. They produce their own food by using sunlight for the process of photosynthesis. The phytoplanktons acts as the primary producers in the aquatic ecosystem. They hold the bottom level in the energy pyramid, and store some amount of energy of the Sun and transform them into food.

The energy obtained from food is passed on to higher energy levels in the energy pyramid as phytoplanktons get consumed up by various aquatic species. Thus, the energy transferred from phytoplankton to higher energy levels gets reduced on the basis of 10 percent law, which illustrates that energy reduces by 10 percent at each trophic level. Thus, all the energy stored by the phytoplankton will not reach the top level of the pyramid.