Process of energy transfer through the food chain

May 13, 2024 | by Bloom Code Studio

The initial energy is obtained from the sun, and plants produce metabolic energy by photosynthesis, wherein only 10% of energy is stored in their tissue that’s means approximately 10% of energy available for consumption by grazing herbivores. The plant, in its metabolism, uses the remaining solar energy, lost as heat or lost as waste.
Of the 10% that herbivores eat, approximately 10% are stored in their tissue to be fed by carnivores. Herbivores use up the remaining 90% of their metabolic energy in functioning.
This process continues up the pyramid, with each subsequent carnivore only inheriting 10% of the previous energy level.
As time passes, about 0.1% of the solar energy that hits the top of the pyramid is consumed by the top predator, and the rest is lost in metabolic activities.
Decomposers (bacteria, fungi, and worms) get the little amount of energy remaining in the tissues of dead plants and animals.
The 10% rule state that “about 90% of energy from food is used for bodily processes or lost as heat, leaving 10% of the original energy available to feed the next consumer”.

View all

RELATED POSTS