Q: Net production efficiency allows ecologists to quantify how efficiently organisms of a particular what incorporate the energy they receive into biomass?


Read this paragraph and choose the correct option from the provided answers:

In Silver Springs, the TLTE between the first two trophic levels was approximately 14.8 percent. The low efficiency of energy transfer between trophic levels is usually the major factor that limits the length of food chains observed in a food web. The fact is, after four to six energy transfers, there is not enough energy left to support another trophic level. In the Lake Ontario example shown in Figure 46.6, only three energy transfers occurred between the primary producer, (green algae), and the apex consumer (Chinook salmon). Ecologists have many different methods of measuring energy transfers within ecosystems. Some transfers are easier or more difficult to measure depending on the complexity of the ecosystem and how much access scientists have to observe the ecosystem. In other words, some ecosystems are more difficult to study than others, and sometimes the quantification of energy transfers has to be estimated. Another main parameter that is important in characterizing energy flow within an ecosystem is the net production efficiency. Net production efficiency (NPE) allows ecologists to quantify how efficiently organisms of a particular trophic level incorporate the energy they receive into biomass; it is calculated using the following formula:.

 Choices:

- hypothesized level

- neural level

- sea level

- trophic level


A:
trophic level