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Biomagnification - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (133 words) |
 | Biomagnification is a similar but distinct concept from bioaccumulation. |
| Whereas bioaccumulation is the concentration of a substance in a single organism or trophic level, biomagnification is the compounding of concentration as one moves through the food chain or "up" through each trophic level. |
| For example, though mercury is only present in small amounts in seawater, bioaccumulation builds it up in the fat tissue of herbivorus fish. |
| EXTOXNET TIBs - Bioaccumulation (1906 words) |
| Biomagnification describes a process that results in the accumulation of a chemical in an organism at higher levels than are found in its food. |
| Biomagnification is illustrated by a study of DDT which showed that where soil levels were 10 parts per million (ppm), DDT reached a concentration of 141 ppm in earthworms and 444 ppm in robins. |
| Through biomagnification, the concentration of a chemical in the animal at the top of the food chain may be high enough to cause death or adverse effects on behavior, reproduction, or disease resistance and thus endanger that species, even when levels in the water, air, or soil are low. |
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