The correct response is: Because energy is lost at each level of the food chain, less energy is available to support tertiary consumers, resulting in fewer individuals at the top.
This statement reflects the concept of energy transfer efficiency in ecosystems, where energy diminishes at each trophic level due to metabolic processes, heat loss, and other factors. As a result, there is less energy available to support higher trophic levels, leading to a decrease in biomass and population size among tertiary consumers compared to producers at the base of the food pyramid.