the organisms in the first trophic level get their energy from the sun.
the organisms in the first trophic level get their energy from the sun.
where do the organisms in the first trophic level get their energy from?
sun
the efficiency with which energy or biomass is transferred from one trophic level to the next is called the ecological efficiency. consumers at each level convert on average only about 10% of the chemical energy in their food to their own organic tissue (the ten-percent law). for this reason, food chains rarely extend for more than 5 or 6 levels. at the lowest trophic level (the bottom of the food chain), plants convert about 1% of the sunlight they receive into chemical energy. it follows from this that the total energy originally present in the incident sunlight that is finally embodied in a tertiary consumer is about 0.001%
trophic level
energy transfer between trophic levels is generally inefficient, such that net production at one trophic level is generally only 10% of the net production at the preceding trophic level (the ten percent law). due to non-predatory death, egestion, and cellular respiration, a significant amount of energy is lost to the environment instead of being absorbed for production by consumers. the figure approximates the fraction of energy available after each stage of energy loss in a typical ecosystem, although these fractions vary greatly from ecosystem to ecosystem and from trophic level to trophic level. the loss of energy by a factor of one half from each of the steps of non-predatory death, defecation, and respiration is typical of many living systems. thus, the net production at one trophic level is formula_1 or approximately ten percent that of the trophic level before it.
ecological efficiency