Only about 10% of the energy in one level goes on to the next level (it is VERY inefficient). Because of this, after 5 levels (max), there isn't enough energy left to form another level.
four
It depends. A food chain could be fairly long with about four or five steps in it, or a food chain could have just two.
A food chain does not go all complex like a food web does, meaning it has anywhere from 3-... an example would be : grass -> rabbit -> fox
Mercury levels would be highest at the top of the food chain due to biomagnification.
Producers, consumers, and decomposers.
food chain
The pyramid of energy best explains why there are usually only four to five links in a food chain. As energy is lost at each trophic level through metabolic processes and heat production, there is less energy available to support higher trophic levels. This limits the number of links that can be sustained in a food chain, typically around four to five levels.
trophic levels.
The tropical rainforest food chain has four levels. The four levels are the primary producers, the primary consumers, secondary consumers and the tertiary consumers.
Calories
The three trophic levels in a food chain are producers (plants), primary consumers (herbivores that eat plants), and secondary consumers (carnivores that eat herbivores).
They are the third level of the food chain. The two levels that are before it is the producers and primary consumer.