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Accumulation of non-biodegradable pesticide in the food chain in increasing amount at each higher trophic level is known as
1. eutrophication
2. biopollution
3. biomagnification
4. None of the above

1 Answer

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Correct Answer - Option 3 : biomagnification

Concept -

Biomagnification: 

  • The term "biomagnification" refers to the rise or increase of non-biodegradable pollutants in the food chain in increasing amounts at each higher trophic level caused by an intoxicating atmosphere.
  • Substances that are non-biodegradable, long-lived, mobile, soluble in fats, and bioactive undergo the process of biomagnification by entering the food chain.
  • Examples of these pollutants are -  
    • Heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic.
    • Pesticides such as polychlorinated biphenyls and DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane).
  • These substances are absorbed by organisms through the food they eat.

How do they enter the food chain?

Take an example of a crop field -  

  • In a crop field, DDT, an insecticide, is used.  
  • This DDT is non-biodegradable and starts to seep within the soil and reaches the water table underground and mixes in the surrounding water bodies like lakes or rivers or ponds. (acting as a pollutant)
  • The aquatic organism, like phytoplankton, in the lakes and ponds, take in the DDT mixed in water to make their food.
  • Thus, from here, the very first organism of the food chain, intakes the DDT, incorporating it in the food chain. 
  • Zooplanktons then intake these phytoplanktons as their food, and alongside the DDT.
  • As the next organism in the food chain comes, the intake of DDT continues from one to the next till the highest trophic level. 
  • At each trophic level, the concentration of DDT  increases. 
  • The concentration at the highest trophic level is the maximum and causes  severe health effects 

Why these non-biodegradable organisms magnify? 

  •  DDT and other non-biodegradable substances are contained in animal fat which takes several years to degrade.
  • As the fat is eaten by predators, the levels of DDT biomagnify. 
  • It may also apply to the number of toxins in individual animals since a top predator can "accumulate" more toxins when it eats several polluted food sources. (this is why it is called biomagnification)
  •  The concentration of a pollutant increases from one link in the food chain to another (for example, infected fish can contaminate the next customer and continue up a tropic food web as each stage absorbs an increasing amount of pollutant).

Explanation

  • Biomagnification is called the rise or increase of non-biodegradable pollutants in the food chain in increasing amounts at each higher trophic level caused by an intoxicating atmosphere.

So, the correct option is - Biomagnification

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