Biology 2010 Student Edition

Published by Prentice Hall
ISBN 10: 9780133669510
ISBN 13: 978-0-13366-951-0

Chapter 3, The Biosphere - 3.2 - Energy Flow in Ecosystems - 3.3 Assessment - Page 78: 2a

Answer

Only about 10 percent of the energy in an ecosystem is transferred from one trophic level to the next. The rest is used in the organism's metabolic processes or released into the environment as heat.

Work Step by Step

Not all of the energy flows from one trophic level to the next. About 10 percent is transferred, but the other 90 percent is either used by organisms to power processes necessary for life or is released into the environment as heat energy.
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