Single answerDifficulty 3/5 · ChallengingOlympiadStatistical analysisConcept explanation
Energy up a pond food chain
Ecologists measured the net production of each trophic level in a small freshwater pond over one year: the energy stored in new biomass by algae and plants, by the invertebrates that graze them, by the small fish that eat the grazers, and by the pike that eat the small fish.
Data
| Trophic level | Organisms | Net production (kJ/m²/yr) |
|---|---|---|
| Producers | Algae and aquatic plants | 24,000 |
| Primary consumers | Grazing invertebrates | 2,880 |
| Secondary consumers | Small fish | 230 |
| Tertiary consumers | Pike | 18 |
What is the transfer efficiency from primary to secondary consumers, and what happened to most of the grazers' energy that did not become new biomass in the small fish?
Answer every part to submit.