Bioaccumulation

What is bioaccumulation? Bioaccumulation is where one animal, say a mouse for instance consumes a substance, lets say a pesticide such as DDT, then is eaten by another animal, say an eagle. If the mouse has been infected with the DDT, and is then eaten the eagle will become infected by the toxins as well. For example, The mouse eats some crops that have been sprayed with DDT. It gets eaten by the eagle and the eagle becomes infected. The eagle system is then damaged and its eggs become soft and the chick inside will either die, or be born and not have properly developed. Another example would be if a bird flew over a factory and breath in the chemicals/acids coming from the factory. Then another bird will eat that bird and so on.. Eventually the acid is collected and can bring viruses and/or death to other animals that eat the infected organism. The organism absorbs the substance at a greater rate that which it can get rid of it.

What is Biomagnification? Biomagnification is linked to bioaccumulation its where pollutants or other toxic compounds may be gained through eating something, so as you go up the food chain the concentration of the compounds increase. Many animals don’t survive DDT and other pesticides especially those as a third or fourth order consumer, they would have a higher concentration of the toxin in their bodies which increases the risk of death.