Which diagram is used to depict how energy flows through an ecosystem?

The pyramid of energy is specifically designed to illustrate how energy flows through an ecosystem. This diagram represents the amount of energy available at each trophic level, demonstrating the energy transfer from one level to the next—starting from producers at the base to consumers at higher levels. The shape of the pyramid highlights that energy decreases as it moves up through the levels, indicating that there is less energy available to each successive consumer. This concept is crucial for understanding the efficiency of energy transfer in ecosystems, as only a fraction of energy is passed on, primarily due to losses through metabolic processes and heat.

Other diagrams mentioned, like the pyramid of numbers and food webs, serve different purposes. The pyramid of numbers shows the number of individual organisms at each trophic level without focusing on the actual energy content, while a food web illustrates the complex interactions and feeding relationships in a community, rather than energy flow specifically. The term "energy funnel" is not a standard ecological term and doesn’t effectively describe the structured representation of energy transfer.