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Question

Question
Suppose a plant is eaten by a mouse, the mouse is consumed by a snake, and the snake is in turn consumed by a hawk. What could be assumed about the level of available organic matter in the mouse versus the plant?(1 point)
Responses

There will be more organic matter available.
There will be more organic matter available.

Organic matter does not transfer between the plant and the mouse.
Organic matter does not transfer between the plant and the mouse.

There will be less organic matter available.
There will be less organic matter available.

They both have the same amount of organic matter.
They both have the same amount of organic matter.
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Answer 1

The correct response is: There will be less organic matter available.

This is due to the concept of energy transfer in an ecosystem, where only about 10% of the energy (or organic matter) is typically transferred from one trophic level to the next. Therefore, when the mouse consumes the plant, the amount of organic matter available in the mouse will be less than that in the plant.