↶↷ A note on the text:

A trophic pyramid is a basic representation of how energy moves through biological communities - how it accumulates, transforms, dissipates.

The base of energy is made of producers, and the top is generally made of consumers.

When energy is transferred up the trophic pyramid, most of it is lost as heat energy.

Life.



The base of the pyramid
is populated by organisms called autotrophs -
the primary producers of the ecosystem. Think trees, mosses, algal blooms.
They spin water and sunlight into energy. They breathe out oxygen and vivify the sky.



All other organisms in the ecosystem are
classified as consumers called heterotrophs, which
either directly or indirectly depend on the primary producers
for food energy. Kind of like an omnivore. But autos rely on hets
for nutrient-fixing and other errands. It's not so much a hierarchy
as it is a shifting network of interdependence and exchange.



Predators are usually at the top
of the pyramid. They get energy from eating
the bottom layers. As a general rule, an energy system can
only function sustainably if it has the support of a larger base
of producers, and a relatively small amount of predators at its apex.



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