Final answer:
The energy that is not transferred to the next trophic level is mostly escaped as heat.
Step-by-step explanation:
The energy that is not transferred to the next trophic level is mostly escaped as heat.
When energy flows through a food chain or web, only about 10 percent of the energy is passed up to the next trophic level. The rest of the energy is used by organisms for metabolic processes or given off as heat. This loss of energy explains why there are rarely more than four trophic levels in a food chain or web.