An energy pyramid is a diagram that compares the energy used by producers, primary consumers, and other trophic levels. In other words, an energy pyramid shows how much energy is available at each trophic level. Energy is lost at each trophic level of a food chain.
Most of the carbon that's stored in plants - and in anything that eats them - is released back into the atmosphere by respiration when the organisms die and are eaten by microbes.
