Which of the following best describes the energy flow from producers to tertiary consumers in a freshwater ecosystem?

Question

a
Producers get 100% energy from the sun, primary consumers get 10%, secondary consumers get 1%, and tertiary consumers get 0.1%.
b
Energy is evenly distributed among all trophic levels.
c
Energy flows directly from the sun to tertiary consumers.

Answer 1

The option that best describes the energy flow from producers to tertiary consumers in a freshwater ecosystem is:

a Producers get 100% energy from the sun, primary consumers get 10%, secondary consumers get 1%, and tertiary consumers get 0.1%.

This reflects the general ecological principle known as the "10% rule," which states that, on average, only about 10% of the energy at one trophic level is transferred to the next level, resulting in a significant loss of energy at each step due to factors like metabolic processes and the inefficiencies of energy transfer.