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what is meant by biological magnification ?

Biological magnification makes a toxin get bigger, or stronger as well.  This happens when a toxin is ingested or eaten and moved up the food chain from one living thing to the next.  
As it moves up the food chain, the toxin gets magnified or more concentrated.  This happens because when larger animals eat smaller animals or prey, they don't just eat one or two of these animals during their lifetime, sometimes they eat thousands or millions.  Not only are these animals ingesting their prey, they're also ingesting all of their prey's toxins.

Biological magnification is the tendency of pollutants to become concentrated in successive trophic levels. Often, this is to the detriment of the organisms in which these materials concentrate, since the pollutants are often toxic.

Biomagnification occurs when organisms at the bottom of the food chain concentrate the material above its concentration in the surrounding soil or water.


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