To determine what percentage of energy is left when it reaches tertiary consumers, we need to consider the energy transfer efficiency through the trophic levels in an ecosystem.
Typically, only about 10% of the energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next due to energy loss at each level (such as through metabolic processes, heat, and waste).
If producers generate 100% of the energy:
- Primary consumers (herbivores) would receive around 10% of that energy.
- Secondary consumers (carnivores that eat primary consumers) would then receive about 10% of the energy passed from primary consumers (which is 1% of producers' energy).
- Tertiary consumers (those that eat secondary consumers) would get about 10% of the energy from secondary consumers, which translates to 0.1% of the original energy produced by producers.
Thus, by the time the energy reaches tertiary consumers, only 0.1% of the original energy generated by producers remains.
The correct response is: 0.1%.