Explain and give an example of biomagnification

What will be an ideal response?


When one organism ingests a toxicant, the toxicant may become concentrated within its tissues. When the higher level consumer feeds, it eats multiple organisms at the lower trophic level, consuming magnified quantities of toxin with each feeding. Thus, with every step up the food chain from primary producer to top predator, concentrations of toxicant increase. An example of biomagnification in nature is when birds of prey consume toxic amounts of DDT because they eat big fish which have eaten small fish which have eaten zooplankton which have eaten algae which have ingested small amounts of DDT from polluted water. Another example of biomagnification in nature is seen in polar bears of Svalbard Island in Arctic Norway. Polar bears fed on seals that have already experienced biomagnification of toxicants such as PCBs. Properties that biomagnified toxins have in common is being lipid-soluble and non-biodegradable or slowly degradable.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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If sea level rose ?? m, would a major city within your state be flooded?

(Use the Zoom In tool if you need to see your state in more detail.) Even if you do not live in a city that would be flooded, how could flooding in other major cities affect you? What will be an ideal response?

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During an El NiƱo event: a. the trade winds weaken or reverse direction

b. large numbers of fish and marine plants die in the coastal waters of Peru. c. ocean waters off the coast of Peru are warmer than usual. d. All of these choices.

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Indicate whether the statement is true or false

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A mountaintop is made of limestone overlying a layer of basalt. What would be the origin of this mountain?

A) The limestone would have formed by sediment in a river valley where the river was flowing over basalt. B) The limestone would have formed by volcanic outflow and the basalt would have been part of the volcano. C) The limestone would have formed at the bottom of an ocean and the basalt would have been part of the oceanic crust. D) The basalt would have formed under metamorphosis by the pressure of the limestone that formed by sedimentation on top of it.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences