Suppose a trout eats a smelt and then the human eats the trout. About how many of the original 1000 calories contained in the algae reach the human?
30 calories makes it into the smelt so only about 6 calories make it to the humans who ate the smelt.
This is correct. Since only about 10% of the energy from one trophic level is passed on to the next level, if 30 calories make it into the smelt, then only around 6 calories would make it to the humans who ate the trout that consumed the smelt.
To calculate the number of calories that reach the human after the trout eats the smelt, we need to consider the energy transfer efficiency at each step of the food chain.
Assuming 30 calories from the algae make it into the smelt, we can estimate that only about 10% (0.1) of the energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next. This means that approximately 10% of the energy is transferred from the smelt to the trout.
So, if the smelt contains 30 calories, the trout would receive about 10% of that, which is 30 * 0.1 = 3 calories.
Finally, when the human eats the trout, we can assume that another 10% of the energy is transferred. Therefore, the human would receive approximately 10% of the 3 calories from the trout, which is 3 * 0.1 = 0.3 calories.
Therefore, about 0.3 calories from the original 1000 calories contained in the algae would reach the human who ate the trout.
To determine how many of the original 1000 calories contained in the algae reach the human, we need to follow the energy transfer through each step of the food chain.
1. Algae → Trout:
Let's assume that the trout consumes the algae. Since energy transfer between trophic levels is typically around 10%, only about 10% of the energy is transferred from one level to the next. Therefore, the trout would receive approximately 10% of the energy contained in the algae, which is 100 calories (10% of 1000 calories).
2. Trout → Human:
When a human consumes the trout, another energy transfer occurs. Based on the same principle that approximately 10% of energy is transferred between trophic levels, the human would receive around 10% of the energy contained in the trout. This would be 10% of 100 calories, which is 10 calories.
Therefore, considering the energy transfer efficiency of approximately 10% between each trophic level, only about 10 calories out of the original 1000 calories contained in the algae would reach the human who consumed the trout.