Summarize two hypotheses that explain why food chains are relatively short.

1. The energetic hypothesis suggests that the efficiency of energy transfer along the food chain determines the length of the food chain.

2. The dynamic stability hypothesis states that long food chains are less stable under the conditions of fluctuations.

Explanation:

Since only 10% of energy from one trophic level is transferred to the next one, the longer food chains are less efficient with respect to energy transfer. Hence, food chains are shorter to make them efficient in energy transfer.

The longer food chains are more likely to be affected by any environmental or man-made disturbance as the fluctuations are magnified at the higher trophic levels. The top consumers of shorter food chains are more likely to get recovered after such disturbances.