Energy captured by producers usually passes through no more than four or five trophic levels. Even in ecosystems with many species, the number of participants in each food chain is limited. The inefficiency of energy transfers constrains the length of food chains. What factors limit the efficiency of energy transfers?
What will be an ideal response?
Several factors limit the efficiency of transfers. All organisms lose energy as metabolic heat, and this energy is not available to organisms at the next trophic level. Also, some energy gets stored in molecules that most consumers cannot break down. For example, most carnivores cannot access energy tied up in bones, scales, hair, feathers, or fur. Many herbivores cannot digest cellulose and lignin that reinforce the tissues of plants.
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A. An excited-state reaction center chlorophyll B. An excited-state antenna chlorophyll
Which innovation(s) places birds in a separate class?
a. wings only b. high metabolic rate c. wings and flight d. high metabolic rate and dry skin e. wings, flight and high metabolic rate
An individual contracts Lyme disease. In this case, how did transmission occur?
A) inhalation B) exposure to infected body fluids C) an intermediate host D) ingestion
The type of cell-cell attachment that resembles quilting, with proteins acting as stitches, is _____.
-gap junctions -tight junctions -desmosomes -selective adhesions