An energy pyramid is meant to show the relative amount of nutritional energy left in an organism as it passes through a food chain or web. Interestingly enough, though, only 10% of energy can be passed through each level. Each level shows the amount of energy derived of the original producer to the next organism.
At the highest level of my energy pyramid, the secondary consumer has 1% of energy from the first level producer. This means that of the 1,000 kcal that the producer started with, only 1% passed through to the highest level. So, of those 1,000 kcal that the Red Oat grass started off with-only 10 kcal has made it through the line to the Lion at the top of the energy pyramid.
The reason for this lost amount of energy is due to the energy burned by keeping the organism alive between the time of it eating to the time of it being eaten itself. So in between those events, it uses the energy for cellular respiration and gives off most (90%) of the energy in heat.
At the highest level of my energy pyramid, the secondary consumer has 1% of energy from the first level producer. This means that of the 1,000 kcal that the producer started with, only 1% passed through to the highest level. So, of those 1,000 kcal that the Red Oat grass started off with-only 10 kcal has made it through the line to the Lion at the top of the energy pyramid.
The reason for this lost amount of energy is due to the energy burned by keeping the organism alive between the time of it eating to the time of it being eaten itself. So in between those events, it uses the energy for cellular respiration and gives off most (90%) of the energy in heat.