Food Chains and Webs

Energy Pyramids

An energy pyramid shows the amount of energy that moves through a food web.  The producers are at the bottom of the pyramid and have the most energy.  It also has the most organisms.  Going up the pyramid, some energy is used up at each level.  At the top of the pyramid, not much energy is left.  Only a few animals are at the top.  Energy flows through all ecosystems in similar ways. 

A small fish eats algae and gets energy from the nutrients in the algae.  The fish then uses the energy to move and grow.  If an eel eats the fish, the eel will not get all the energy that first came from the algae because the fish has used up some of that energy.  The eel would get its energy from the nutrients in the fish.