How do toxins move up the food chain?

When animals eat or swallow the polluted soil or water, the toxins they ingest travel through the food chain, growing in concentration until the predators at the top of the food chain end up ingesting toxic prey. This process is known as biomagnification.

What happens to toxins as they moves through the food chain web?

Organisms such as krill, mussels and fish have been found to retain toxins from phytoplankton in their bodies. These organisms are often not affected by the toxins but pass the toxins on further along the food web. The larger animals get the bigger doses of accumulated toxin.

When toxins increase as you go up the food chain food web it is called?

Biomagnification refers to the increased concentration of a toxic chemical the higher an animal is on the food chain.

Why do the poisons increase as you go up the food chain?

Because these compounds aren't digested, they accumulate within the animals that ingest them, and become more and more concentrated as they pass along the food chain as animals eat and then are eaten in turn.

How do toxic substances travel through the environment?

Toxicants travel through the environment mainly by means of air and water. Airborne toxins are most common worldwide. Bioaccumulation is the buildup of a toxicant in the tissues of an animal. Biomagnification is when toxins build up in higher concentrations as they move to higher trophic levels.

Biomagnification and the Trouble with Toxins

Why does the concentration of toxic substances increase from a lower to a higher trophic level?

Biomagnification increases the concentration of toxic substances in organisms at higher trophic levels. DDT is an example of a substance that biomagnifies; birds accumulate sufficient amounts of DDT from eating fish to cause adverse effects on bird populations.

When toxic or potentially toxic substances build up in the food chain the process is called?

2.2.

Biomagnification is a process by which contaminant concentrations increase in the tissue of higher species of the food chain. As contaminated smaller organisms are consumed, chemicals are accumulated and magnified in the tissue and organs of larger animals.

Why do toxins become concentrated as biomass passes through a food chain quizlet?

Accumulated toxins become concentrated in successive trophic levels of a food web. This phenomenon is referred to as biological magnification and it occurs because the biomass at any given trophic level is produced from a much larger biomass ingested from the level below.

How do toxicants enters and eliminated from living organisms?

Toxicants are removed from the systemic circulation by biotransformation, excretion, and storage at various sites in the body. Excretion is the removal of xenobiotics from the blood and their return to the external environment via urine, feces, exhalation, etc.

What part of the food chain is most affected by toxins?

Bioaccumulation occurs when toxins build up - or accumulate - in a food chain. The animals at the top of the food chain are affected most severely. This is what happens: Small amounts of toxic substances - often pesticides or pollution from human activity - are absorbed by plants.

What is a toxin and what does it do?

Definition of toxin

: a poisonous substance that is a specific product of the metabolic activities of a living organism and is usually very unstable, notably toxic when introduced into the tissues, and typically capable of inducing antibody formation.

How are toxins absorbed?

Absorption may occur through the GI tract, skin, lungs, via the eye, mammary gland, or uterus, as well as from sites of injection. Toxic effects may be local, but the toxin or toxicant must be dissolved and absorbed to some extent to affect the cell. Solubility is the primary factor affecting absorption.

How are toxins excreted?

The kidney excretes toxins through essentially 3 mechanisms: (1) filtration through the glomeruli; (2) passive diffusion, typically from the distal tubules; and (3) active processes where the toxins are transported from the blood as well as into the urine.

How are toxicants absorbed?

To be absorbed through the skin, a toxicant must pass through the epidermis or the appendages (sweat and sebaceous glands and hair follicles). Once absorbed through the skin, toxicants must pass through several tissue layers before entering the small blood and lymph capillaries in the dermis.

What describes the concentration of toxic chemicals in the food chain?

Biomagnification, also known as bioamplification or biological magnification, is any concentration of a toxin, such as pesticides, in the tissues of tolerant organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain.

What is the process by which the concentration of a contaminant increases as it moves up the food chain quizlet?

Bioaccumulation occurs within a trophic level, and is the increase in concentration of a substance in certain tissues of organisms' bodies due to absorption from food and the environment.

Why does DDT magnify within food chains when certain other chemicals do not?

Explanation: DDT increases or biomagnifies if we look at a food chain. DDT is fat-soluble, meaning animals store it in fatty tissues. It also takes a relatively long amount of time to break down.

How does toxic waste affect the ecosystem?

In ecosystems, toxic wastes have caused substantial damage to animal and plant populations. Such wastes overwhelm natural restorative processes, destroy habitats, and reduce populations of sensitive species outright or inhibit their reproductive success.

How do toxins become concentrated in carnivores?

Biomagnification - effects of toxins are magnified (increase) in the environment through food chains. It occurs when the toxic burden of a large number of organism at a lower trophic level is accumulated and concentrated by a predator in a higher trophic level.

Is a toxin being more concentrated at higher trophic levels?

Organisms at higher trophic levels tend to eat a larger proportion of their own weight in food, which means that they have a greater risk of being exposed to and concentrating biological toxins within their tissues.

Which trophic level has the highest concentration of toxic substances in a food chain?

Answer. Top Carnivore or we can say secondary consumer has the highest concentration of toxic substances in a food chain...

When the concentrations of these toxic substances build up or increase at successive levels of food chain then the process is called biomagnification?

The increasing concentration of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in the tissues of tolerant organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain, is known as biological magnification.

Where do toxins exit the body?

Lungs aside, the three major organs that eliminate waste and harmful substances are the liver, kidneys and colon. Your colon, or large intestine, is like a self-cleaning oven that has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years.

What happens when toxins leave the body?

Toxic overload can cause a number of changes in your body. In the early stages, your body try to expel those toxins by any means necessary. You may experience diarrhea, sneezing or coughing fits, excessive urination, sore throat, heartburn, nasal congestion or runny nose (from mucus overproduction), or vomiting.

What are the 3 phases of detoxification?