Question

Many small aquatic animals eat algae for their main diet. A group of such animals consume 1,000 calories of algae, retaining 150 calories to pass on to the next higher trophic level. What percentage of the energy was lost

Answer 1

These animals will lose 85% of the energy, but be careful, this energy is not just going to be lost, they're using it to catch more energy.

Step-by-step explanation:

To solve this problem, you're going to use the Rule of Three, and by that, you can find that, 150 calories are equivalent to 15% of the whole 1000 calories that this group of animals consume. If they pass only 15% of these calories to the next higher trophic level, that means that 85% of this energy will be used during their lifetime, either they use it to reproduce themselves, or to find more energy sources such as other algaes.