Question

What will be the amount of energy available to the organism of the ${2^{nd}}$ trophic level of the food chain if the energy available at the first trophic level is 10,000 joules?

Answer 1

Hint: There is a chain in our ecology that one organism is eaten by the other. Thus the energy contained will also be passed to the next organism. This helps to maintain the energy balance in the ecosystem. The organism can feed on plant products or flesh of other animals, in both cases the energy will be transferred to the consumer.

Complete answer: The various organisms are living on this earth. All of the creatures are interdependent for their survival. This forms a vicious cycle in nature which is very important for the balance in nature and ecology.
-This gives rise to the prevalent food chain in which one organism is eaten by the other like the zooplankton are eaten by the aquatic animals, which are then eaten by some larger animals. Thus this whole form of a chain.
-According to Lindeman, he stated that when this food chain pursues, there is a transmission of energy from one organism to another. He gave Lindeman's 10% law which says that 10% of the energy is transferred from one level to the other.
So, according to this theory,
If the first trophic level has 10,000 joules of energy, only 10% will pass to the second trophic level.
10% of 10,000 = 1000
So, the second trophic level will have 1000 Joules of energy.

Note: Humans are at the top of the food chain in our ecological system. So the maximum accumulation of toxic substances will be in humans. So this becomes very important to learn the concept of biomagnifications which is proved to be fatal at higher organisms levels. It can cause heart, liver, brain failure, etc.