Which of the following limits the number of trophic levels in a food c

Which of the following limits the number of trophic levels in a food chain ?

Deficient food supply

Polluted air

Decrease in the available energy at higher trophic levels

Parasitic organisms

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UPSC CDS-2 – 2021

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In a food chain, energy flows from producers (e.g., plants) to primary consumers (herbivores), secondary consumers (carnivores that eat herbivores), tertiary consumers (carnivores that eat other carnivores), and so on. At each successive trophic level, a significant amount of energy is lost to the environment as heat during metabolic processes, respiration, and excretion. Only about 10% of the energy from one trophic level is typically transferred to the next (the 10% law of energy transfer). Due to this substantial energy loss at each step, the amount of available energy decreases rapidly as you move up the food chain. Eventually, there is not enough energy remaining at higher levels to support a viable population, which limits the number of trophic levels in most ecosystems, usually to four or five.

– Energy transfer between trophic levels is inefficient.
– Approximately 90% of energy is lost at each step.
– The decrease in available energy limits the length of food chains.

Other factors like ecosystem stability, size of organisms, and difficulty in hunting or finding prey can also play a role, but the fundamental physical limit on the number of transfers is imposed by the decreasing energy availability. Deficient food supply can limit population size, but not necessarily the number of potential levels. Polluted air affects health but not the energy transfer mechanism directly limiting trophic levels. Parasitic organisms are consumers but part of the overall complexity, not the primary limiter on the number of main levels.

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