In a four-layer food pyramid, which percent of the original energy is available in the third layer?(1 point)

Question

Responses

1%
1%

100%
100%

10%
10%

0.1%

Answer 1

In a four-layer food pyramid, energy is typically reduced by about 90% at each successive layer due to the inefficiency of energy transfer in ecosystems (known as the 10% rule).

• The first layer (producers) represents 100% of the energy.
• The second layer (primary consumers) would have about 10% of the original energy (10% of 100%).
• The third layer (secondary consumers) would then have about 1% of the original energy (10% of 10%).
• The fourth layer (tertiary consumers) would have about 0.1% of the original energy (10% of 1%).

Therefore, the percent of the original energy available in the third layer is 1%.