Question

The interactions among organisms from one trophic level to the next, with regards to the transfer of energy, is regarded as overall inefficient. Please explain how this process is important and yet, numerically, wasteful. You can look at this from a variety of ways, please pick one and use and define properly the terms.

Answer 1

In the trophic level, different organism occupies its position. Energy is transferred between organisms when one organism eats the organism lower than its trophic level and gets the energy-rich molecules from the body of the prey. However, such energy transfers are actually inefficient in reality.

In a particular trophic level, some of the energy of an organism is reserved as biomass. When an organism eats its prey, this energy is transferred to the higher trophic level. This transferred energy from the prey is only 10%.per unit time. Again 10% of the energy stored in the biomass is transferred to the next trophic level when this organism gets eaten.

For example, let's a primary producer contains 10000 kcal/m²/year of energy in its biomass. When it is eaten by a primary consumer, only 10% energy in the form of its biomass gets transferred. Hence, the primary consumer will have 1000 kcal/m²/year of energy which will be stored in its biomass. Further predators, for example, secondary and tertiary consumers will have further less energy in their biomass. Hence, the length of the food chain will be limited. The top consumer will have a very limited amount of energy. Hence, numerically, the energy transfer is a wasteful process between trophic levels. In this diagram, the same is explained numerically. Some energy is released as heat in each trophic level.

Primary producer - the organism at the base of the trophic level. For example - grass, trees etc.

Primary consumer - the organism which selects the primary producer as its prey. For example - butterfly etc.

Secondary consumer - the organism which eats the primary consumer. For example - Frog.

Tertiary consumer - which eats the secondary consumer. For example - Snake.

Quarternary consumer - the organism which preys on tertiary consumer and in this case, the highest level of the organism in the trophic level. For example - Eagle.