If a consumer receives 100 energy units and 10 units are stored as biomass, what percent is transferred?

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Multiple Choice

If a consumer receives 100 energy units and 10 units are stored as biomass, what percent is transferred?

Explanation:
Energy moving through organisms isn’t all kept as biomass; most of it is used for life processes and lost as heat. To find how much is transferred to biomass, compare the energy stored to the energy received: 10 stored out of 100 received equals 10/100 = 0.10, which is 10%. So the energy transferred as biomass is 10%. In real ecosystems, only a portion like this is passed on at each step, with the rest lost to heat, waste, and metabolism.

Energy moving through organisms isn’t all kept as biomass; most of it is used for life processes and lost as heat. To find how much is transferred to biomass, compare the energy stored to the energy received: 10 stored out of 100 received equals 10/100 = 0.10, which is 10%. So the energy transferred as biomass is 10%. In real ecosystems, only a portion like this is passed on at each step, with the rest lost to heat, waste, and metabolism.

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