In a food web, which organisms would you expect to have the highest biomass?

In a food web, producers are expected to have the highest biomass. This is due to their role in capturing energy from sunlight through photosynthesis. As the foundation of the food web, producers—such as plants and algae—convert sunlight into chemical energy, forming the base of the energy pyramid. They represent the largest group of organisms in terms of both numbers and total mass because they support all other levels, including herbivores, carnivores, and detritivores.

The energy transfer from producers to higher trophic levels is inefficient. Only about 10% of the energy from one trophic level is passed on to the next, which means that as you move up from producers to herbivores, then to carnivores, the biomass typically decreases. While detritivores play an important role in breaking down dead organic material and recycling nutrients, their biomass is also generally lower than that of producers because they consume materials that are already on the decline. In summary, the high biomass in producers stems from their ability to create energy-rich organic matter and serve as a vital energy source for all other organisms in the ecosystem.