Biomagnification Objectives of the Paper

paper can increase our knowledge and give us the information about biomagnification.

B. Objectives of the Paper

The aims of this paper is giving information about definition, history, process, chemical can be occurred biomagnification, properties of biomagnification chemicals, cases of Biomagnification and how to reduce biomagnification occurrence. II. Biomagnification: Definition and History A. Biomagnification, Bioaccumulation, and Bioconsentration To understanding about the biomagnification, there were two matters that also related, namely: bioconsentration and bioaccumulation. Therefore, in this paper also explained the different between biomagnification with bioconcentration and bioaccumulation.

1. Biomagnification

There are some definitions about biomagnification. One of the definitions in Environmental Protection Agency EPA glossary 2006, namely: biomagnification is the increase of tissue accumulation in species higher in the natural food chain as contaminated food species are eaten. The term biomagnification refers to the progressive build up of persistent substances by successive trophic levels, meaning that it relates to the concentration ratio in a tissue of a predator organism as compared to that in its prey GreenFacts Scientific Board, 2006. Wikipedia dictionary also mention about definition of biomagnification, namely: biomagnification or biological magnification is the increase in concentration of an element or compound, such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane DDT, a type of pesticide that occurs in a food chain as a consequence of food chain energetic and lack of or very slow, excretion or degradation of the substance. Biomagnification describes a process that results in the accumulation of a chemical in an organism at higher levels than are found in its food. It occurs when a chemical becomes more and more concentrated as it moves up through a food chain. The dietary linkages between Universitas Sumatera Utara single-celled plants and increasingly larger animal species Extension Toxicology Network,1993. Biomagnification is the tendency of pollutants to become concentrated in successive trophic levels. Often, this is to the detriment of the organisms in which these materials concentrate, since the pollutants are often toxic. Biomagnification refers to the tendency of pollutants to concentrate as they move from one tropic level to the next. Increase in concentration of a pollutant from one link in a food chain to another. This is a general term applied to the sequence of processes in an ecosystem by which higher concentrations are attained in organisms of higher trophic level in the food chain. The process by which xenobiotics increase in body concentration in organisms through a series of prey-predator relationships from primary producers to ultimate predators, often human beings. Biomagnification along a food chain will result in the highest concentrations of a substance being found at the top of the food chain Maritta College, 2006. Biomagnification is the bioaccumulation of a substance up the food chain by transfer of residues of the substance in smaller organisms that are food for larger organisms in the chain. It generally refers to the sequence of processes that result in higher concentrations in organisms at higher levels in the food chain at higher tropic levels Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. These processes result in an organism having higher concentrations of a substance than is present in the organism’s food. Biomagnification can result in higher concentrations of the substance than would be expected if water were the only exposure mechanism. Accumulation of a substance only through contact with water is known as bioconcentration. http:toxics.usgs.govdefinitionsbiomagnification.html. Universitas Sumatera Utara Source: Is Mercury the Achilles Heel of the Restoration Effort? , South Florida Restoration Science Forum http:toxics.usgs.govdefinitionsbiomagnification.html . Fig 1. A hypothetical example of the biomagnification of mercury in water up through the food chain and into a wading birds eggs. Source: Ecological and Environmental Learning Services 2006 http:www.eelsinc.orgid62.html Fig 2. An example of the biomagnification of aquatic food chain Universitas Sumatera Utara

B. Bioaccumulation