This set of Energy & Environment Management Multiple Choice Questions & Answers (MCQs) focuses on “Ecological Pyramids”.
1. Who developed ecological pyramids for the first time?
a) Charles Newton
b) Charles Elton
c) Charles Babbage
d) Charles Darwin
View Answer
Explanation: Ecological pyramids were first developed by Charles Elton. Since he first developed ecological pyramid is also known as Eltonian pyramid. An ecological pyramid may be erect or inverted depending on the type of criterion and the ecosystem.
2. Where we can find the inverted pyramids of biomass?
a) Terrestrial ecosystem
b) Aquatic ecosystem
c) Grassland ecosystem
d) Desert ecosystem
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Explanation: Aquatic ecosystems have inverted biomass pyramids because there’s a high turnover rate of producers. This is stable because high rates of production keep up to consumption rates. Inverted food pyramid means that consumers are more than producers.
3. Which of the following shows the numbers of the producers, herbivores and the carnivores at their successive trophic levels?
a) Food web
b) Food chain
c) Pyramid of biomass
d) Pyramid of numbers
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Explanation: Pyramid of numbers is the number of organisms in a food chain can represent graphically in a pyramid. Each bar represents the number of individuals at each trophic level in the food chain. Hence pyramid of numbers represent the number of herbivores and the carnivores at their successive trophic levels.
4. How can we indicate the accurate energy passed at each trophic level?
a) By the help of pyramid of number
b) By the help of pyramid of biomass
c) By the help of pyramid of energy
d) By the help of pyramid of food web
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Explanation: A pyramid of biomass is a more accurate indication of how much energy is passed at each trophic level. Biomass is the mass of living material in each organism multiplied by the total number of organisms in that trophic level.
5. Which of the following statement is true for pyramid of biomass?
a) The biomass in each trophic level is always more than the below trophic level
b) The biomass in each trophic level is always less than the below trophic level
c) The biomass in each trophic level is entirely different compared to below one
d) Trophic level don’t pass energy
View Answer
Explanation: Biomass is a measure of the amount of food available. When animals eat only a small proportion of their food, it is converted into new tissue. This tissue is the food for the next trophic level organisms.
6. Pyramid of energy shows the relationship between energy and trophic level.
a) True
b) False
View Answer
Explanation: Pyramid of energy depicts flow of energy in the ecosystem. Source of all energy in ecosystem is the sun. Producers are only organisms in an ecosystem that can trap the solar energy. So base of energy pyramid is always wide compare to others.
7. What is the significance of the shape of the pyramid of energy?
a) It shows decrease in energy
b) It shows increase in energy
c) It shows the direction of energy flow
d) It shows the trophic levels
View Answer
Explanation: Pyramid of energy is always upright in shape, this is because as energy lost as heat along food chains either used in respiration or lost due to heat. So there will be decrease in energy. Energy transformation is just about 10% for higher trophic levels.
8. Why are the trophic levels is in the shape of pyramid?
a) Due to loss of energy between the trophic level
b) Due to good looking
c) Due to increase of energy between the trophic level
d) Due to stable energy between the trophic level
View Answer
Explanation: The pyramid shape of the trophic level comes from the loss of energy between the levels. The chain grows only 10% of the energy supply to the proceeding animals, that energy loss will be used to produce new primary consumers.
9. Which pyramid is always upright apart from tree ecosystem?
a) Pyramid of Number
b) Pyramid of Biomass
c) Pyramid of Energy
d) Pyramid of Force
View Answer
Explanation: Pyramid of a number represents the total number of organisms at each trophic level. It is always upright except in a tree ecosystem. In tree ecosystem pyramid of number is inverted. Usually, it contains four trophic levels.
10. What is the exception to the upright pyramid of biomass?
a) Temperate forests
b) Deserts
c) Aquatic ecosystems
d) Grassland ecosystems
View Answer
Explanation: The pyramids of biomass represent the relationship between different trophic levels in terms of biomass. In aquatic ecosystem the producers are small organisms with least biomass and the biomass gradually increase towards the apex of the pyramid.
11. In an energy pyramid, which way does energy transfer occur?
a) From both top to bottom and bottom to top of pyramid
b) From middle of pyramid
c) From top to the bottom of pyramid
d) From bottom to the top of pyramid
View Answer
Explanation: The largest source of energy for an ecosystem is the Sun. Energy and nutrients passed when one organism eats another. Usually producers are in large amount when compared to that of consumers.
12. Which of the following ecological pyramids is the most fundamental?
a) Pyramid of energy
b) Pyramid of numbers
c) Pyramid of biomass
d) Pyramid of force
View Answer
Explanation: Pyramid of energy is a diagrammatic expression of the rates of flow of energy through the different trophic levels of an ecosystem. The pyramid reflects the rates of respiration and photosynthesis.
13. How many types of ecological pyramids are there?
a) One
b) Two
c) Three
d) Four
View Answer
Explanation: There are three types of ecological pyramids are there, a) Pyramid of Number: It represents the total number of organisms at each trophic level. b) Pyramid of Biomass: It represents total weight of the organisms in each trophic level. c) Pyramid of Energy: It represents total energy of the organisms in each trophic level.
14. The pyramid of biomass is upright in aquatic ecosystem.
a) True
b) False
View Answer
Explanation: Pyramid of Biomass is inverted in case of aquatic ecosystem because the producers in aquatic ecosystem are phytoplankton. This phytoplankton grows and reproduces rapidly. The pyramid of biomass has a small base, with the consumer biomass exceeding the producer biomass.
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