2/10/14 Biomagnification - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Biomagnification
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Biomagnification, also known as bioamplification or biological magnification, occurs when the concentration of a substance, such as DDT or
mercury, in an organism exceeds the background concentration of the substance in its diet.[1] This increase can occur as a result of:

Persistence – where the substance can't be broken down by environmental processes

Food chain energetics – where the substance concentration increases progressively as it moves up a food chain
Low or non-existent rate of internal degradation or excretion of the substance – often due to water-insolubility

The following is an example showing how bio-magnification takes place in nature: An anchovy eats zoo-plankton that have tiny amounts of mercury that
the zoo-plankton has picked up from the water throughout the anchovies lifespan. A tuna eats many of these anchovies over its life, accumulating the
mercury in each of those anchovies into its body. If the mercury stunts the growth of the anchovies, that tuna is required to eat more little fish to stay
alive. Because there are more little fish being eaten, the mercury content is magnified.

Biological magnification often refers to the process whereby certain substances such as pesticides or heavy metals move up the food chain, work their
way into rivers or lakes, and are eaten by aquatic organisms such as fish, which in turn are eaten by large birds, animals or humans. The substances
become concentrated in tissues or internal organs as they move up the chain. Bioaccumulants are substances that increase in concentration in living
organisms as they take in contaminated air, water, or food because the substances are very slowly metabolized or excreted.

Contents
1 Processes
2 Current status
3 Substances that biomagnify
3.1 Novel organic substances
4 See also
5 References

Processes
Although sometimes used interchangeably with "bioaccumulation", an important distinction is drawn between the two, and with bioconcentration.
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Bioaccumulation occurs within a trophic level, and is the increase in concentration of a substance in certain tissues of organisms' bodies due to
absorption from food and the environment.
Bioconcentration is defined as occurring when uptake from the water is greater than excretion.[2]

Thus, bioconcentration and bioaccumulation occur within an organism, and biomagnification occurs across trophic (food chain) levels.

Biodilution is also a process that occurs to all trophic levels in an aquatic environment; it is the opposite of biomagnification, thus a pollutant gets smaller
in concentration as it progresses up a food web.

Lipid, (lipophilic) or fat soluble substances cannot be diluted, broken down, or excreted in urine, a water-based medium, and so accumulate in fatty
tissues of an organism if the organism lacks enzymes to degrade them. When eaten by another organism, fats are absorbed in the gut, carrying the
substance, which then accumulates in the fats of the predator. Since at each level of the food chain there is a lot of energy loss, a predator must consume
many prey, including all of their lipophilic substances.

For example, though mercury is only present in small amounts in seawater, it is absorbed by algae (generally as methylmercury). It is efficiently absorbed,
but only very slowly excreted by organisms.[3] Bioaccumulation and bioconcentration result in buildup in the adipose tissue of successive trophic levels:
zooplankton, small nekton, larger fish, etc. Anything which eats these fish also consumes the higher level of mercury the fish have accumulated. This
process explains why predatory fish such as swordfish and sharks or birds like osprey and eagles have higher concentrations of mercury in their tissue
than could be accounted for by direct exposure alone. For example, herring contains mercury at approximately 0.01 ppm and shark contains mercury at
greater than 1 ppm.[4]

DDT is thought to biomagnify and biomagnification is one of the most significant reasons it was deemed harmful to the environment by the EPA and other
organizations. DDT is stored in the fat of animals and takes many years to break down, and as the fat is consumed by predators, the amounts of DDT
biomagnify.

Current status
In a review of a large number of studies, Suedel et al.[5] concluded that although biomagnification is probably more limited in occurrence than previously
thought, there is good evidence that DDT, DDE, PCBs, toxaphene, and the organic forms of mercury and arsenic do biomagnify in nature. For other
contaminants, bioconcentration and bioaccumulation account for their high concentrations in organism tissues. More recently, Gray[6] reached a similar
substances remaining in the organisms and not being diluted to non-threatening concentrations. The success of top predatory-bird recovery (bald eagles,
peregrine falcons) in North America following the ban on DDT use in agriculture is testament to the importance of biomagnification.

Substances that biomagnify

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There are two main groups of substances that biomagnify. Both are lipophilic and not easily degraded. Novel organic substances are not easily degraded
because organisms lack previous exposure and have thus not evolved specific detoxification and excretion mechanisms, as there has been no selection
pressure from them. These substances are consequently known as "persistent organic pollutants" or POPs.

Metals are not degradable because they are elements. Organisms, particularly those subject to naturally high levels of exposure to metals, have
mechanisms to sequester and excrete metals. Problems arise when organisms are exposed to higher concentrations than usual, which they cannot excrete
rapidly enough to prevent damage. Some persistent Heavy metals are especially harmful to the organism's reproductive system.

Novel organic substances

Further information: Persistent organic pollutant

DDT
Hexachlorobenzene (HCB)
PCBs
Toxaphene
Monomethylmercury

See also
Mercury in fish

References
1. ^ Jorgensen SE and Fath B (2008) Encyclopedia of Ecology (http://books.google.co.nz/books?
id=6IQY8Uh1aA0C&pg=PA442&dq=Biomagnification+food+web+trophic&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QijaUsY1x-
2SBZPDgaAD&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Biomagnification%20food%20web%20trophic&f=false) Volume 1, Newnes. ISBN
9780080914565. Page 442.
2. ^ Landrum, PF and SW Fisher, 1999. Influence of lipids on the bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of organic contaminants in aquatic organisms.
Chapter 9 in MT Arts and BC Wainman. Lipids in fresh water ecosystems. Springer Verlag, New York.
3. ^ Croteau, M., S. N. Luoma, and A. R Stewart. 2005. Trophic transfer of metals along freshwater food webs: Evidence of cadmium biomagnification in
nature. Limnol. Oceanogr. 50 (5): 1511-1519.
4. ^ EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 1997. Mercury Study Report to Congress. Vol. IV: An Assessment of Exposure to Mercury in the United
States . EPA-452/R-97-006. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards and Office of Research and
Development.
5. ^ Suedel, B.C., Boraczek, J.A., Peddicord, R.K., Clifford, P.A. and Dillon, T.M., 1994. Trophic transfer and biomagnification potential of contaminants in
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aquatic ecosystems. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 136: 21–89.

6. ^ Gray, J.S., 2002. Biomagnification in marine systems: the perspective of an ecologist. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 45: 46–52.

Fisk AT, Hoekstra PF, Borga K,and DCG Muir, 2003. Biomagnification. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 46 (4): 522-524

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