A plant absorbs 200 J/g of energy from the sun. A cow eats the plant and absorbs 120 J/g of energy. The cow is fed to a group of humans who absorb 70 J/g from the meat. What is the main reason the energy consumption decreases from one consumption to the next?
Majority of energy, around 90% in fact, is lost between each trophic level, mostly due to the energy usage of sustaining life, and a lot is lost as thermal energy.
