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What is biological magnification?

The increasing concentration of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in the tissues of organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain. As a result of biomagnification, organisms at the top of the food chain generally suffer greater harm from a persistent toxin or pollutant than those at lower levels.


Biological magnification, also known as biomagnification or bioamplification, explains why a substance appears in higher concentrations in organisms higher in a given food chain than in organisms lower in a food chain. This happens because creatures high up in the food chain, such as predators, feed on creatures that are lower in the food chain and absorb the substances from the organisms they consume in addition to the substances they directly absorb from the environment.
 One of the primary substances that scientists study in relation to biological magnification is the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, better known as DDT.


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