As per the 'ten percent energy' transfer law introduced by Lindeman-'During the transfer of energy from organic food from one trophic level to the next, only about ten percent of the energy from organic matter is stored as flesh.' In a typical food chain, only ten percent of the energy is passed to the next consumer in the unidirectional manner and 90% is lost to the environment as heat. In a typical food chain, the apex predator receives the least amount of energy and hence, a single food chain typically does not have more than 4 levels.