Question

Phytoplankton 120,000 kJ/m2

Copepods 7,514 kJ/m2
Small fish 383 kJ/m2
Marine birds 14 kJ/m2

a. Calculate the efficiency of energy transfer to the copepods.

b. Calculate the efficiency of energy transfer from the secondary consumer to marine birds.

Answer 1

a. 6.26%

b. 3.65%

Step-by-step explanation:

A food chain is a series of event showing how organism feed on one another, it also shows the transfer of energy in an ecosystem.

From the question; we can have a food chain showing the transfer of energy right from the producer to the tertiary consumer

(Producer) Primary Sedcondary Tertiary

consumer (1°) consumer (2°) consumer (3°)

Phytoplankton ⇒ Copepods ⇒ small fish ⇒ Marine birds

120,000 kJ/m2 7,514 kJ/m2 383 kJ/m2 14 kJ/m2

W X Y Z

Efficiency of energy transfer is given as:
`(EnergyAvaliableAfterTheTransfer)/(EnergyAvailableBeforeTheTransfer)*100%`

The first question (a) says, Calculate the efficiency of energy transfer to the copepods.

i.e efficiency of energy transfer from phytoplankton to copepods =
`(X)/(W)*100%`

=
`(7514)/(120000)*100`

= 6.25%

b) Calculate the efficiency of energy transfer from the secondary consumer to marine birds.

i.e efficiency of energy transfer from small fish to marine birds =
`(Z)/(Y) *100`

=
`(14)/(383) *100`

=3.65%