Question

Based on the diagram given below, choose the correct statement from the following.

• A. It is a pyramid of energy depicting the ocean ecosystem.
• B. It is a pyramid of biomass which shows a small standing crop of phytoplankton supporting a larger standing crop of zooplankton.
• C. It is a pyramid of biomass of a grassland ecosystem with standing crop of primary consumers supporting that of primary producers.
• D. It shows the pyramid of number of the plankton population in an ocean ecosystem.

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

Each trophic level has a certain mass of living material at a particular time called the standing crop. The standing crop is measured as the mass of living organisms (biomass) or the number in a unit area. An ocean ecosystem is largely dominated by the plankton population. The given diagram shows an inverted pyramid of biomass with a small standing crop of phytoplankton supporting a large standing crop of zooplankton.