Calculate the percentage of energy lost at each transformation.How is this energy lost?

Question

Transfer of energy at each trofic level in a river food web in (kJm^-2yr^-1)

incident light(3x10^6)

------diatoms(plants)(2.8 x10^4)

-------Herbivorous zooplankton(400)

-------young fish(17)

------older fish----------

Answer 1

The transfer of energy from one trophic level to another is only about 10%.  4 transformations- Start with 1000, next to 100, next to 10, next to 1, next to .1.  So the older fish should be .1 units if we start with a thousand units at incident light.  Plug in the values to get your answer.

I have no idea why the other poster is even mentioning a thermal transfer rate.  It's not part of the calculation.

Answer 2

Its all a .077% loss at the thermal transfer rate off 4.

Answer 3

The energy is lost in the form of heat while transforming from one level to another.