In relation to energy transfer in an ecosystem, explain the statement: "$10 \; kg$ of deer's meat is equivalent to $1 \; kg$ of lion's flesh".

(N/A) The flow of energy in an ecosystem is unidirectional and follows the $10 \%$ Law of energy transfer.
According to this law, only about $10 \%$ of the energy available at one trophic level is transferred to the next higher trophic level, while the remaining $90 \%$ is lost as heat during respiration and other metabolic processes.
In this scenario, the deer acts as a primary consumer (herbivore) and the lion acts as a secondary consumer (carnivore).
When a lion consumes $10 \; kg$ of deer biomass, only $10 \%$ of that energy is converted into the lion's body mass.
Therefore, $10 \; kg$ of deer meat provides enough energy to produce approximately $1 \; kg$ of lion flesh, illustrating the significant loss of energy across trophic levels.