In a marine ecosystem, an ecologist measures the standing crop of phytoplankton and finds it to be 4 g m ⁻² . The standing crop of the zooplankton feeding on them is found to be 21 g m ⁻² . Which of the following ecological pyramids is best illustrated by this data?

Step-by-step solution

The standing crop represents the biomass of organisms present in a unit area at a given time. The biomass of phytoplankton, which are the primary producers, is given as 4 g m ⁻² . The biomass of zooplankton, which are the primary consumers, is given as 21 g m ⁻² . Since the biomass of the consumers at the higher trophic level is greater than the biomass of the producers at the lower trophic level, the pyramid of biomass is inverted. This inverted pyramid of biomass is a characteristic feature of aquatic ecosystems,