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Why do food chains usually have only three to five trophic levels?

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Zenaida macroura: mouring doves — ecology Mourning doves (*Zenaida macroura*) on their nest protected within the prickly branches of a cactus in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona, U.S.

Food chains typically consist of only three to five trophic levels because of the significant loss of energy as it moves through an ecosystem.12

At each step in a food chain, organisms expend the majority of the energy they consume on metabolic processes, such as digestion and maintaining body temperature. It is estimated that 80 to 90 percent of energy is lost as heat at each trophic level, leaving very little available for the next level of consumers.2

Because of this inefficiency, there is progressively less energy available to support organisms higher up the trophic pyramid. By the time energy reaches the top of a chain, the amount remaining is often insufficient to sustain an additional population of predators, which effectively limits the number of levels a chain can support.321