Which term describes the increasing concentration of a pesticide as it moves up the food chain?

Which term describes the increasing concentration of a pesticide as it moves up the food chain?

• A. Biodegradation
• B. Biomagnification
• C. Biotransformation
• D. Bioaccumulation

Answer: (B)

Biomagnification is the process where a pesticide becomes more concentrated as it moves up the food chain. When a chemical is persistent and not readily broken down, it stays in organisms and tends to accumulate in fatty tissues. A predator then eats many contaminated prey, so the chemical builds up in the predator to higher levels than in the prey, and this increase repeats at each higher trophic level. This differs from bioaccumulation, which is the buildup within a single organism over time from all sources, not specifically tied to moving through food levels. Biodegradation refers to breakdown by microorganisms, reducing concentration, and biotransformation is the metabolic change of a chemical within an organism, often to aid excretion. So the term that best describes increasing concentration up the food chain is biomagnification.

Biomagnification is the process where a pesticide becomes more concentrated as it moves up the food chain. When a chemical is persistent and not readily broken down, it stays in organisms and tends to accumulate in fatty tissues. A predator then eats many contaminated prey, so the chemical builds up in the predator to higher levels than in the prey, and this increase repeats at each higher trophic level. This differs from bioaccumulation, which is the buildup within a single organism over time from all sources, not specifically tied to moving through food levels. Biodegradation refers to breakdown by microorganisms, reducing concentration, and biotransformation is the metabolic change of a chemical within an organism, often to aid excretion. So the term that best describes increasing concentration up the food chain is biomagnification.