food-chain efficiency

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food-chain efficiency The ratio between the energy value (the nutritional value, discounting indigestible parts such as hair or feathers) of prey consumed by a predator and the energy value of the food eaten by that prey. Maximum food-chain efficiency (gross ecological efficiency) occurs when the yield of prey to the predator is such that the surviving prey just consume all the available food: this implies that the food of the prey is being exploited to the best advantage by the predator.

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