alleryStart learning →How does net production efficiency compare between cold blooded and warm blooded animals?
AWarm blooded is about ten times higher
BCold blooded is about ten times higher
CCold blooded is about ten times lower
DBoth groups are about equally efficient
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. Cold blooded is about ten times higher
1. Net production efficiency measures how much assimilated energy becomes new biomass.
2. Energy spent on respiration and lost as heat never becomes biomass.
3. Warm blooded endotherms burn a large share of their intake just to hold body temperature.
4. Cold blooded ectotherms spend far less on heat, so more of their intake becomes tissue.
5. The gap is about an order of magnitude, meaning ectotherms are roughly ten times more efficient.
6. A caterpillar eating leaves has been measured near 18 percent, a squirrel eating acorns near 1.6 percent.
7. Reversing the comparison would predict that livestock convert feed better than insects do.
8. Calling them equal ignores the whole energetic cost of staying warm.
_Source: OpenStax Biology 1e (CC BY 4.0), Chs 44 and 46, section 46.2 Energy Flow through Ecosystems_
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