Question

What are biomagnifications?

Answer 1

Toxin is a harmful poisonous substance.
These toxins come from industry, car exhausts, air and water pollution, pesticides, herbicides and radiation. They are also found in hair care products, soaps, make-up, perfumes and cleaning products. In the past 100 years around 75,000 new chemicals have been released into the environment.

Complete answer:
The term "environmental toxin" can sometimes clearly include synthetic contaminants such as industrial pollutants and other artificially made toxin substances.

Environmental toxins come from food chains that may be dangerous to human health.
A few toxin substances, often present in industrial wastes waters, may undergo biological magnification.

Biological magnification or biomagnifications refers to an increase in concentration of the toxicant at successive trophic levels.
This happens because a toxic substance accumulated by an organism cannot be metabolized or excreted and thus it passes to the next trophic level.
Examples are: mercury and DDT.

High concentration of DDT disturbs calcium metabolism in birds, which causes thinning of eggshells and their premature breaking, eventually causing decline in bird populations.

Process of Biomagnification:
- Release of toxic chemicals and pollutants.
- Phytoplankton
- Zooplankton
- Small fish consumes the zooplankton
- Large fish consumes small fish.
- Top food chain organisms consume the large fish.

It effects:
- Human Health
- Marine creatures
- Coral reefs
- Food chain

Note: Eutrophication is when the environment becomes enriched with nutrients.
This can cause problems in marine habitats such as lakes as it can cause algal blooms. Some algae even produce toxins that are harmful to higher forms of life. This can cause problems along the food chain and affect any animal that feeds on them.