what determines how many trophic levels a rain forest ecosystem can support?

Question

it talks about the rain forest

Answer 1

Ecosystems are all based on the number of

1. producers in the first level. Plants.
2. the second level contain plant consumers.
3. the third level are those that consume the 2nd level
4. The fourth are those that eat the third level
This forms a pyramid which has many more in the first level, fewer in the second and fewer still in the third. There are the very few in the top level.

No more levels than 4 are found.

For example: in a prairie , there are many different plants.  There are many plant eater such as bison, fewer bison eaters such as large cats, the last of all there are fewer humans.

The tropical rain forest has many, many plants and can support many in the levels above them. In the desert there are few plants and so there are very few in the levels above,

Answer 2

Each trophic level relates to the one below it by absorbing some of the energy it consumes, and in this way can be regarded as resting on, or supported by the next lower trophic level. Food chains can be diagrammed to illustrate the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to the next in a food chain. It depends on how much energy is being transferred down.