Q1. [1] medium initial-understanding
Which of the following correctly explains why food chains rarely have more than four trophic levels?
(A) Producers can only support three types of consumers at a time.
(B) So little usable energy remains after four trophic levels that supporting another level becomes impossible.
(C) Carnivores refuse to eat organisms beyond the fourth trophic level.
(D) The number of individual organisms increases at every higher trophic level, making energy transfer inefficient.
- A Producers can only support three types of consumers at a time.
- B So little usable energy remains after four trophic levels that supporting another level becomes impossible.
- C Carnivores refuse to eat organisms beyond the fourth trophic level.
- D The number of individual organisms increases at every higher trophic level, making energy transfer inefficient.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · 2026-06-26 00:58 · grounding rag
Model Answer
(B) So little usable energy remains after four trophic levels that supporting another level becomes impossible.
Explanation
The 10% energy law states only ~10% of energy passes to the next trophic level; after four levels, energy is too little to sustain further consumers. Options A, C, and D are factually incorrect as per the textbook.