Why are there less secondary consumers in an ecosystem than producers?(1 point)

Question

Responses

There is less land to use for habitat after the producers grow.
There is less land to use for habitat after the producers grow.

More tertiary consumers will eat secondary consumers over producers.
More tertiary consumers will eat secondary consumers over producers.

There isn’t enough energy available to support more secondary consumers.
There isn’t enough energy available to support more secondary consumers.

Around 90% of energy from one trophic level to the next is available.
Around 90% of energy from one trophic level to the next is available.

Answer 1

The correct response is:

There isn’t enough energy available to support more secondary consumers.

In an ecosystem, energy transfer between trophic levels is inefficient, with typically only about 10% of the energy being passed from one level to the next. As a result, there are fewer secondary consumers than producers, because there is not enough energy to support a large population of secondary consumers.