What are the shortcomings of ecological | Class 12 Biology Chapter Ecosystem, Ecosystem NCERT Solutions

Ecological pyramid is given by Charles Elton in 1927 it is defined as the graphical representation of the numbers or biomass and accumulated energy at each trophic level in the food chain. The relationship between numbers, biomass and energy flow in biotic community can be represented graphically by ecological pyramids. The base of the each pyramid represents the producers or first trophic level while the apex represents the next trophic levels like tertiary or high level consumers and other consumer trophic levels in between them. The shortcomings of ecological pyramids in the study of ecosystem are as follows:

1. Saprotrophs are not considered in the ecological pyramid despite of having very vital role of decomposers in the food chain.
2. More than one species can occupy multiple trophic levels but only in the case of food webs but is not applicable in the case of ecological pyramids or we can say do not consider the possibility of the existence of same species at a time at different trophic levels.
3.  Ecological pyramids do not show any concept related to variations in season and climate.