Question

A typical food chain involves producers, herbivores, primary carnivores, and secondary carnivores. Based on Lindeman’s law of trophic efficiency, if producers have 40 kJ of energy, the energy that will be stored in secondary carnivores is ________ kJ (round off to two decimal places).

Hint:

According to Lindeman's law, only about 10% of energy is transferred to the next trophic level, and this process continues through each level.

Answer 1

Correct Answer: 0.04

Lindeman’s law of trophic efficiency states that approximately 10% of the energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next. If producers have 40 kJ of energy, the energy passed to secondary carnivores is calculated as follows: Energy stored in secondary carnivores = \( 40 \, \text{kJ} \times (0.10 \times 0.10) \) \[ \text{Energy} = 40 \times 0.01 = 0.04 \, \text{kJ}. \] Thus, the energy stored in secondary carnivores is 0.04 kJ.