Question

Bioaccumulation or biomagnification occurs when toxins (usually hydrophobic or lipophilic) accumulate within the body tissues of the organisms that ingest chemicals containing the chemical. One famous bioaccumulating chemical is DDT, which was described in the late 1960s by Rachel Carson as the explanation behind the disappearance of many species of fish-eating birds, including osprey and bald eagles. The figure below shows how DDT concentrations increase with trophic level in an aquatic ecosystem; a process known as biomagnification. Given what you know about food chains and energy transfer, explain the reason that biomagnification of DDT happens in the aquatic food chain shown at right. Describe two scenarios where a food chain, when compared to the one here, could have less severe biomagnification or none at all, even though the contaminant is still present (you can choose any contaminant you want). DDT concentration (parts per million) 25 ppm

          Bioaccumulation or biomagnification occurs when toxins (usually hydrophobic or lipophilic) accumulate within the body tissues of the organisms that ingest chemicals containing the chemical. One famous bioaccumulating chemical is DDT, which was described in the late 1960s by Rachel Carson as the explanation behind the disappearance of many species of fish-eating birds, including osprey and bald eagles. The figure below shows how DDT concentrations increase with trophic level in an aquatic ecosystem; a process known as biomagnification. Given what you know about food chains and energy transfer, explain the reason that biomagnification of DDT happens in the aquatic food chain shown at right. Describe two scenarios where a food chain, when compared to the one here, could have less severe biomagnification or none at all, even though the contaminant is still present (you can choose any contaminant you want).

DDT concentration (parts per million)
25 ppm

Added by Ian J.

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