Question

If 10 joules of energy is available at the producer level, then amount of energy available at the level of secondary consumer is

• A. 10 J
• B. 1 J
• C. 0.1 J
• D. 0.01 J

Answer 1

The correct option is C 0.1 J

According to the 10 percent law of energy, during the transfer of energy from one trophic level to the next trophic level, only about ten percent of the energy of the previous trophic level is made available to the next trophic level, remaining energy is lost as heat to the environment. Producers belong to the first trophic level, primary consumer to the second and secondary consumer to the third trophic level.
If 10 joules of energy is available at the producer level then according to the 10 percent law of energy only 10 percent of 10 J will be transferred to the primary consumer level which is 1 J.
The energy transferred to the secondary consumer level will be 10 percent of the energy available at the primary consumer level which is 10 % of 1 joule.
So energy available at the secondary consumer level will be 0.1 J.