Grasses → Grasshoppers → Lizards → Hawks If the individual species of organisms in the food chain are counted…

Step 1: Analyze the question The food chain is: Grasses → Grasshoppers → Lizards → Hawks. The question says the individual organisms are counted and arranged as a pyramid. The key word is counted.

Step 2: Explain the concept There are three types of ecological pyramids:

• Pyramid of numbers: based on the count of individual organisms at each trophic level.
• Pyramid of biomass: based on the total dry mass of living material at each level.
• Pyramid of energy: based on the energy (e.g., kJ) at each level.

A biome (option D) is a large ecological region such as the tropical rainforest or savanna. It is not a type of pyramid.

Step 3: Apply to the chain

• Grasses: very many individuals
• Grasshoppers: many, but fewer than the grasses
• Lizards: fewer still
• Hawks: very few

Counting the individuals gives a broad base of grasses narrowing to a small number of hawks at the top. This is a pyramid of numbers.

(Note: if a single large tree were the producer, a pyramid of numbers could look inverted. Here the producers are grasses, which are small and numerous, so the pyramid is upright.)

Step 4: Answer The correct option is A. numbers.

Exam tip: Match the key word in the question to the pyramid type:

• "counted" → numbers
• "mass/weight of living material" → biomass
• "energy transferred/kJ" → energy

Also remember that "biome" is never a pyramid. It is a major habitat type.