Question

Why is energy lost as you move up trophic levels?

Answer 1

Different trophic levels are found in an ecosystem. The basci trophic level is producers that have hughe amounts of energy. The successive trophic levels are occupied by primary, secondary and tertiary consumers. Some energy is uded by all organisms of different trophic levels for the cellular and metabolic processes. Except producers, organisms in rest of trophic levels depend one another to obtain energy. Moreover, the energy obtained is lost through heat during transition from one trophic level to another. Therefore, the energy is reduced moving up the trophic levels. The amount of energy transferred from one trophic level to another is measured as trophic level transfer efficiency (TLTE). It can be calculated as