In a food chain. Why would the tertiary or the final consumer get the least amount of energy from the producers and not the decomposers?

Question

I’ve come upon this question on a test today and answered “decomposers”. I was then told that the final consumer was the right answer. I don’t understand since what eats those final consumers are the decomposers when they die so in my mind I think they would get least amount of energy from producers. I am confused.

In: Biology

Answer 1

Decomposers, as a class, also eat all the other levels of the food chain. They also eat the excreted wastes that represent some of that level-to-level decrease in available energy.