LIFE SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -The amount of energy at each trophic level decreases as it moves through an ecosystem. As little as 10 percent of the energy at any trophic level is transferred to the next level; the rest is lost largely through metabolic processes as heat.

Detailed explanation-2: -Energy Flow Through an Ecosystem Secondary and tertiary consumers, omnivores and carnivores, follow in the subsequent sections of the pyramid. At each step up the food chain, only 10 percent of the energy is passed on to the next level, while approximately 90 percent of the energy is lost as heat.

Detailed explanation-3: -The ten percent rule states that each trophic level can only give 10% of its energy to the next level. The other 90% is used to live, grow, reproduce and is lost to the environment as heat. All energy pyramids start with energy from the Sun which is transferred to the first trophic level of producers.