Question

If the producer in a food chain has 1000 kcal of energy available, how much energy would each of the consumers have?

Answer 1

Answer:

Primary consumer = 100kcal

Secondary consumer = 10kcal

Tertiary consumer = 1kcal

Step-by-step explanation:

In a food chain, transfer of energy occurs when one organism feeds on another organism. However, only 10% of energy is transferred from one organism to another because energy is lost as heat when the organisms perform metabolism.

In a typical food chain consisting of a producer, a primary (1st), secondary (2nd) and tertiary (3rd) consumer, if there are 1000 kcal of energy available in the producer, then:

- Primary consumer will obtain; 10% of 1000Kcal

10/100 × 1000

Primary consumer = 100kcal of energy.

- Secondary consumer will obtain as follows; 10% of 100kcal available energy

= 10/100 × 100

Secondary consumer = 10Kcal of energy.

- Tertiary consumer will obtain as follows; 10% of 10Kcal of available energy.

= 10/100 × 10

Tertiary consumer = 1 kcal of energy.