The number of trophic levels an ecosystem can support is driven by... (select all that apply) O The efficiency of energy transfer across trophic levels The speed of nutrient cycling (decomposition) The amount of energy available (primary productivity) The population size of top predators in the ecosystem The composition of the plant community

 

The efficiency of energy transfer across the trophic levels.

When primary consumers fed on green plants, some of the energy goes into digestion while another fraction of energy goes into reproduction and growth. Some of the food consumed is turned into its own body and made readily available for the next level of consumers. Energy transfer efficiency across the trophic levels is dictated by the amount of organic matter that moves to the next consumer.

This means, for an ecosystem to support a given number of trophic levels there has to a very stable and efficient transfer of energy to the next levels from the organic matter being consumed by each consumer in each trophic level