What is bioaccumulation and biomagnification? What type of chemicals bioaccumulate?

1 Answer
Dec 7, 2015

Bio-accumulation is the staying of a chemical substance in the tissues of an organism without being broken down easily or quick enough. Usually thee substances are toxic and they are fat soluble, and this is why they stay in the tissues.
When this organism is eaten by another, this chemical goes to the body of the new one, and because the predator usually eats more than one prey, the toxins in all their bodies stay in the predator's.So the amount of toxins increases from one trophic level to another, and this is bio-magnification.It happens with pesticides and heavy metals generally speaking.