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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Laboratory Estimation of Net Trophic Transfer Efficiencies of PCB Congeners to Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) from Its Prey
Published on: August 29, 2014
Global synthesis reveals systematic variation in trophic transfer efficiency across and within ecosystems
Danping Wu1, Junjie Zheng1,2, Shipeng Nie1
1Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and State Key Laboratory of Vegetation Structure, Function and Construction (VegLab), Peking University, Beijing, China.
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Trophic transfer efficiency (TTE) describes the proportion of energy or nutrients transferred from one trophic level to the next. A common assumption holds that ~10% of energy is transferred upward. This rule of thumb has shaped ecological models and discussions of sustainability, but broad empirical tests are lacking. We compiled 2052 TTE estimates from 122 studies across ecosystems. Average energy transfer efficiency (TTEe) was 5.92%, well below 10%, while nutrient transfer efficiency (TTEn) averaged 11.13%. Marine ecosystems had the highest TTEe (8.13%), followed by freshwater (5.53%) and terrestrial (1.52%) systems. TTEe declined with temperature in freshwater and was lower for consumers feeding on autotrophs, endotherms, and higher trophic levels. Our findings challenge long-standing assumptions and highlight the need for better understanding of TTE variation.
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