ABSTRACT
Life is sustained through the transfer of energy. All living things need energy in order to sustain the processes of life. The initial source of this energy is light from the sun. The energy from the sunlight has been transferred into the chemical bonds of the glucose molecules. Much of the light energy 'trapped' by plants is used to sustain the plants themselves, for respiration, growth, reproduction and so on. The herbivores represent the second trophic level in an ecosystem, and, because of the small transfer of energy from producer to primary consumer, the herbivores in an ecosystem will be less numerous than the plants and will produce less total living matter, or biomass. As only about 10 per cent of the total energy within a particular trophic level is available for transfer to the organisms of the next level, it is easy to see how small a proportion of 'original' energy from green plants is available to top carnivores.
