If a secondary consumer receives 50 units of energy from a primary consumer, how much energy did the primary consumer receive from the producers? Assume a 10% energy transfer at each level.

Question

A food chain. Grasses are on the left. To the right of the grasses is an arrow pointing to a beetle. To the right of the beetle is an arrow pointing to a small bird. To the right of the small bird is an arrow pointing to a falcon.

(1 point)
Responses

450 units of energy
450 units of energy

5 units of energy
5 units of energy

500 units of energy
500 units of energy

50 units of energy
50 units of energy

Answer 1

In a food chain, energy is transferred through the levels with approximately 10% of the energy being passed from one level to the next.

Here’s the breakdown of energy transfer using your example:

1. Let \( E \) be the energy that the primary consumer (the beetle) receives from the producers (the grasses).
2. The primary consumer (beetle) passes on 10% of its energy to the secondary consumer (the small bird), which receives 50 units. Therefore, we can set up the equation: \[ 0.1E = 50 \]
3. To find \( E \), multiply both sides of the equation by 10: \[ E = 50 \times 10 = 500 \text{ units of energy} \]

Thus, the primary consumer received 500 units of energy from the producers.

The correct response is: 500 units of energy.