Explanation

Only about 10% is stored at higher trophic level and the remaining 90% is lost in respiration, decomposition and waste in the form of heat. Suppose 2000 J of solar energy is incident on green vegetation. The latter having about 1% efficiency, trap about 20 J of energy and convent it into chemical energy by photosynthesis The remaining 1980 J would be lost to the environment. The herbivore that feed on producers get 10% of the energy stored in plants, i.e., 2 J. The remaining 18 J are lost to the environment. Carnivores feeding on herbivores would be able to store only 0.2 J of energy as flow [image:14_image27.emf]