Main factor improving ecosystem energy efficiency:
“Higher assimilation and production” for main factor improving ecosystem energy efficiency. This relationship follows from the ecological mechanism represented by the terms in the item, not merely from an association between their names. The relevant inference should follow the pathway from resource supply to organismal uptake and then to ecosystem-level flux. Productivity, trophic transfer, decomposition, and nutrient regeneration are connected, but each measures a different part of that pathway. The remaining alternatives—“Primary productivity”, “Shorter food chains”, “Photosynthetic rate”—r
Ref: Ecology: From Individuals to Ecosystems, Begon et al., 5th Ed., Ch. 17-19