Energy Flow
The 10% law of energy transfer implies that most energy is lost as:
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About This Question
- Subject
- biology
- Chapter
- ecology and environment
- Topic
- energy flow
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Year
- 2025
Solution
Correct Answer:
Heat and metabolic processes
- Lindeman's 10% Law: States that only about 10% of the energy available at one trophic level is transferred to the next higher level.
- Energy Fate: The majority (90%) of energy is not 'lost' in the physical sense but used by the organism for:
- Metabolism: Respiration and movement.
- Reproduction and Growth.
- Dissipation: Ultimately, most of this energy leaves the living system as heat (Second Law of Thermodynamics).
- Consequence: This rapid energy loss limits the number of trophic levels in a food chain to usually 4 or 5.
This medium difficulty biology question is from the chapter ecology and environment, covering the topic of energy flow. It appeared in the 2025 exam.
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