Food Chains Food Webs – Transfer of Energy

The transfer of energy is extremely inefficient as energy is lost in waste, as heat and used up along the food chain. This is why a single predator has to feed on many prey just to obtain enough energy to keep it alive.

Although predators feed on prey, they play a crucial role in ensuring the survival of the prey’s population in the long run! Without predators, the population of prey increases drastically and results in an overfeeding on their food source which eventually results in the shortage of food and decrease in the population size of the prey.