Energy transfer in ecosystems follows the concept of trophic levels, where energy is lost at each level due to respiration, heat loss, and other metabolic processes. Typically, only about 10% of the energy from one trophic level is transferred to the next.
If we start with producers generating 100% of the energy:
- Producers to Primary Consumers: ~10% is transferred to primary consumers, meaning 10% of the original energy reaches this level.
- Primary Consumers to Secondary Consumers: ~10% of the energy available to primary consumers is transferred to secondary consumers, leaving about 1% of the original energy.
- Secondary Consumers to Tertiary Consumers: Finally, ~10% of the energy available to secondary consumers is transferred to tertiary consumers, resulting in about 0.1% of the original energy reaching tertiary consumers.
Thus, by the time the energy reaches tertiary consumers, approximately 0.1% of the original energy produced by the producers is left.