The gradual reduction in energyEnergy and nutrients are the same thing. Plants capture energy from the Sun and store it in chemicals, via the process of photosynthesis. The excess greenery and waste that plants create, contain chemicals that animals can eat, in order to build their own bodies and reproduce. When a chemical is used this way, we call it a nutrient. As we More content, increase in body size and reduction in number of animals, that occurs the higher you go up the food chainA single thread in a food web illustrating the chain of animals that eat each other. At the base of the food chain are small high-energy (fast metabolism) animals and at the other end large low metabolism animals. An example would be whales eating krill that eat plankton that eat algae. Or lions that eat gazelles that eat grass. More. At the base of the pyramid are a vast number of high-metabolism, tiny creatures and at the summit, are the top predators. To be stable, the pyramid has to have creatures at all levels.
