Biomagnification

In this activity we learned just how much of a toxin can accumulate in body tissue due to biomagnification- the process in which a substance, most commonly a toxin, get concentrated into body tissue because of the nature of a food chain. When really small organisms are exposed to a toxic substance, they dont absorb much of it. But when a not so small organism comes and eats hundreds of those smaller fish, the toxin accumulates in that organisms body because its getting small doses of the toxin from hundreds and hundreds of sources. This process also explains why larger fish are a hazard for humans to eat since their high concentration of mercury in their living tissue.

This is an example of biomagnification with DDT. In the picture, you can see hoe the amount of DDT exponentially increases.