declared simplification: 6-8 pyramid renders detritus and decomposers as a single bar
the web -- click a species to lift it out
matter — a ring
energy — a fan with a dead end
Predict first: if you take one out, which diagram changes shape — and which one only rearranges?
One of these comes back. The other never does.
energy — flows through, and leaves
producers250
herbivores120
carnivores40
detritus + decomposers90
heat — gone0
captured from the sun 127
still in living things 500
lost as heat 0
500 + 0 = 500 — balanced
Follow it far enough and it stops. There is no arrow out of heat.
The plants are respiring too. They always were — the pyramid just made it easy not to notice.
carbon — goes around, and stays
air (CO2)500
producers250
herbivores120
carnivores40
dead matter + soil70
decomposers20
total carbon 1000
unchanged since you started — nothing left, nothing arrived
Follow it far enough and you are back where you started. Nothing left and nothing arrived.
the probe — drag a species down to the tray to lift it out
taken out — drag back to returnempty
Predict first: which panel changes shape, and which one only rearranges?
population traces
producers
250
—
herbivores
120
—
carnivores
40
—
decomposers
20
—
transfer efficiency — computed from this system, not stipulated
herbivore
9.0%
herbivores
carnivore
8.7%
carnivores
decomposer
8.8%
decomposers
It came out at four percent here. Ten was never a law; it was an average someone rounded.
scale
Molecule
Cell
Organism
Population
Ecosystem
your claim
Molecule
Cell
Organism
Population
Ecosystem
Type your claim about this ecosystem. Choose the explanation type and scale level.
total matter
1000
event log
No moves yet — predict before you run.
declared split
Photosynthesis and respiration appear here as role — the mass ledger and pool accounting. Mechanism (the light reactions, electron transport) belongs to Cell World. Both worlds state the split.