At each transfer, assimilated energy is divided among:
- respiration
- maintenance
- activity
- waste
- new biomass
- reproduction
Operational definition
Food-web process.
The movement of organic matter, chemical free energy, and nutrients from one organism or trophic resource pool into a consumer through feeding, parasitism, absorption, or related biological acquisition.
Only part of the source production becomes consumer production because some material is:
- not consumed;
- not assimilated;
- excreted;
- respired;
- dissipated as heat.
Trophic-transfer efficiency must therefore specify the numerator and denominator.