Abdel Karim 1

Maha Abdel Karim

Mr. Mangan
IB1 ESS
24 February 2016
Bioaccumulation & Bio magnification Essay
Bioaccumulation is the buildup of chemicals or substances such as
pesticides in an organism. Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism
absorbs a substance that may be toxic at a rate faster than the rate that the
substance is lost. Bio magnification is the increase in the concentration of a
pollutant from one trophic level to the other. Both bioaccumulation and bio
magnification have drastically harmful affects on organisms living in any
ecosystem.
Ecosystems are affected negatively by bioaccumulation and bio
magnification because of the toxins released to the ecosystems. To
elaborate, an ecosystem is a community of living organisms interacting with
each other and non living things in their environment. There is a balance
residing within the ecosystems and different niches existing as well. To
disturb the balance is to create positive feedback or to move the system
away from its equilibrium state causing it to be unstable. Ordinarily the
causes of the instability within ecosystem is from pollutants made by
humans. Which is ironic because not only do these pollutants destabilize
ecosystems but cause humans to develop damaging affects such as diseases

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to occur. Two processes that will be explained in further detail that cause
these harmful and damaging affects are bioaccumulation and bio
magnification.
Bioaccumulation develops through harsh substances such as
pesticides. Pesticides are toxic substances released into our ecosystem in
order to kill other organisms including; weeds, fungus, insects, and rodents.
Recently the use of pesticides is so widespread that one could find pesticides
wherever they are. Commonly found in agricultural fields pesticides have
spread into the air and water and are used at homes and offices to kill
unwanted organisms. The damage of this however is that pesticides poison
other organisms and disturb the environment. Pesticides often poison
organisms like humans, livestock, and wildlife causing them to decrease in
population and initially disturb the natural balance in ecosystems also
decreasing biodiversity. When there is a buildup of the toxic substance or a
bioaccumulation of the substance not only does the organism itself get
harmed but because most pesticide are soluble in water or in fats they can
spread damaging other organisms. Pesticides however are not the only type
of harmful substance. An example of a pesticide that causes a widespread of
damage to organisms is DDT which was a commonly used pesticide used in
the U.S in WW II to control Malaria that still has lasting affects. There are
many other types of harmful chemicals and if an organism is constantly
exposed to those harmful chemicals and substances undergoes

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bioaccumulation. This can shorten the organisms life span and disrupt their
ability to perform different functions. This has a ripple affect on other
organisms in an ecosystem because if one organism dies the balance is
disrupted in the sense that it will start going from negative feedback to
positive. So even if the accumulation occurs in smaller fish, if the smaller fish
die out than the bigger fish will have no pray so they will start to die out, and
if they die out so will their predators and so the ripple affect will continue.
Bio magnification accumulates through pollution. When toxins or
harmful substances are released into the environment --by factories, or
pesticides, or any other form of pollution-- they are absorbed by organisms.
Even if it is in small amounts the chemicals are observed into organisms and
as the organisms move through the food chain or are eaten the amount of
chemicals in the organism higher up in the food chain increases. For
example, if a factor is set up near the ocean, the chemicals in the smoke it
releases will reach the ocean. And in the ocean the seaweed will absorb
these chemicals. So to begin with a primary producer absorbed a toxin. Then
a fish eats the seaweed so now the fish absorbed this toxin. Then a larger
fish will feed the smaller one and the larger fish may be consumed by a bird.
By the time the bird consumes the large fish the birds body is filled with
toxins to the extent that its abilities to reproduce, find food, and perform its
normal functions may be impaired. The toxins magnify as it passes through
the trophic levels in food webs and food chains. Different toxins affect

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different organisms so whether or not it affects the producers or secondary
consumers the ripple affect mentioned above will continue. The best
example of bio magnification is the Minamata disease. This disease was a
neurological epilepsy like disease that affected the humans living in
Minamata, Japan. This was due to a factor setting up their and their waste
water being spilled into the body of water surrounding Minimata. The
mercury spilled into the water was absorbed by the fish and so humans
started developing the disease because they ate the fish. This is an example
of bio magnification because the mercury passed through the sea life
including the producers and secondary consumers in the water to the
humans. Since the humans are at the top of the food chain they received the
most toxins causing this disease.
To conclude, the affects of bio accumulation and bio magnification
include diseases, destabilization of ecosystems and the radical decrease of
organisms or processes these organisms can perform. This is initially caused
by toxins and pollutants typically created by humans that enter the
environment and damage it. Toxins that are seen to cause bio accumulation
and bio magnification include; pesticides (in general), DDTs, and chemicals
released by factories (the mercury in Minamata). Due to the fact that
humans are at the top of the food chain and in the highest trophic level there
should be more care taken to conserve the environment and not deteriorate

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it thus avoiding the severely negative affects of both bioaccumulation and
bio magnification.

Works Cited

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"Biomagnification." The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. 2008, and Deborah L.
Swackhammer. "Biomagnification." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam
Research, 2008. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
"Bioaccumulation & Biomagnification." Bioaccumulation & Biomagnification.
Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
Carter, Kari Norborg. "The Effects of Bioaccumulation on the Ecosystem | The
Classroom | Synonym." The Effects of Bioaccumulation on the
Ecosystem | The Classroom | Synonym. Demand Media. Web. 24 Feb.
2016.
Johnston, Pamela, and Daniel DiFranco. "Bioaccumulation." Bioaccumulation.
Ed. Suzanne Levine. The Encyclopedia of the Earth, 10 June 2010. Web.
24 Feb. 2016.
"The Problem with Pesticides." The Problem with Pesticides. Toxics Action
Center. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
"Minamata Disease." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Jan. 2016. Web. 24
Feb. 2016.