BI-1950
Energy losses in food chains
Biology · Secondary 4 · Medium · Energy losses in food chains
In a marine food web, phytoplankton are producers and seals are tertiary consumers. Why is the biomass of seals much smaller than that of phytoplankton?
- Most energy is lost between trophic levels, so little is left to build seal biomass.
- Seals grow slowly so they cannot store much energy as biomass.
- Phytoplankton reproduce sexually while seals reproduce asexually.
- Energy is created at higher trophic levels, reducing lower-level biomass.
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