suppose a plant is eaten by a mouse, the mouse is consumed by the snake, and the snake is in turn consumed by the hawk. what could be assumed about the level of available organic matter in the mouse nersus the plant?
A ) they both have the same amount of organic matter
B ) there will be more organic matter available
C ) organic matter does not transger between plant and the mouse
D ) there will be less organic amttera vailable
D) there will be less organic matter available
When a plant is consumed by a mouse, not all of the organic matter from the plant is transferred to the mouse because energy is lost at each trophic level due to metabolic processes, heat loss, and not all parts of the plant are digestible. Therefore, the amount of organic matter available in the mouse is less than the amount that was available in the plant. This concept is part of the ecological efficiency and energy transfer through trophic levels described by the 10% rule, which states that, on average, only about 10% of the energy from one trophic level is transferred to the next.