Increase in concentration of certain stable chemicals (for example, heavy metals or fat-soluble pesticides) in successively higher trophic levels of a food chain or web.

Bioaccumulation of a pesticide through an ecological food chain by transfer of residues from the diet into body tissues. The tissue concentration increases at each trophic level in the food web when there is efficient uptake and slow elimination. (Rand and Petrocelli, 1983)

An increase in the concentration of a pollutant as it is passed up the food chain, caused by a tendency for animals to accumulate the pollutant in their tissues.

The increasing concentration of a substance as it passes into higher trophic levels of a food web. Many bioaccumulants are also biomagnified.

the increased accumulation and concentration of a contaminant at higher levels of the food chain; organisms higher on the food chain will have larger amounts of contaminants than those lower on the food chain, because the contaminants are not eliminated or broken down into other chemicals within the organisms.

an increase in concentration of a substance at each progressive link in the food chain (for example: berries birds foxes bears; the concentration of a contaminant such as lead would be highest in a large meat-eater)

the increasing accumulation of a toxin in increasing levels of a food chain.

Biological uptake of an element or compound through biosorption and/or bioaccumulation in amounts over and above its ambient concentration in the environment, becoming a sink for that species by magnifying its concentration in living cells.

the process whereby concentrations of certain substances increase with each step up the food chain.

bio-accumlation occurring through several levels of a food chain; process by which certain substances (such as pesticides or heavy metals) are deposited into a waterway, are eaten by aquatic organisms, which are in turn eaten by large birds, animals or humans, causing the substances to become increasingly concentrated in tissues or organs as they move up the food chain.

bi-o-mag-nif-i-KAY-shun Increasing concentrations of a chemical with higher trophic levels. 866

the buildup of a chemical sustance as it moves from organism to organism in a food chain

Process by which substances such as pesticides or heavy metals move up the food chain, becoming more concentrated with each succeeding step up the chain.

A cumulative increase in the concentrations of a persistent substance in successively higher levels of the food chain.

The increase in the concentration of toxic chemicals with each new link in the food chain. For example, a pesticide sprayed on vegetation can concentrate in the fat of animals and fish that eat vegetation and then is further concentrated in the fat of meat and fish eaters, resulting in an overall biomagnification of the chemical.

The process by which concentrations of pollutants increase (magnify) as they pass up the food web such that each animal in the food web has higher tissue concentrations than did its food. For example, concentrations of certain pollutants can increase as they are passed from plankton to salmon to seals.

The increase in the concentration of bioaccumulated toxic chemicals in organisms higher on the food chain due to preferential storage of the toxic chemical in edible body parts. For example, chlorinated pesticides concentrate in the fat and skin of fish in contaminated lakes and streams and are biomagnified when those fish are eaten by larger fish, and perhaps eventually by mammals or birds of prey.

When an animal eats a plant or another animal, it consumes all the contaminants stored in that food. Contaminants can biomagnify in animals that eat other animals because the amount of the contaminant increases with each step from prey to predator.

Efficient transfer of chemical from food to consumer, through two or more trophic levels, results in a systematic increase in tissue residue concentrations from one trophic level to another.

The increasing concentration of compounds at higher trophic levels.

Sequence of processes in an ecosystem by which higher concentrations are attained in organisms at higher trophic levels (at higher levels in the food web); at its simplest, a process leading to a higher concentration of a substance in an organism than in its food. SN ecological magnification. RT bioaccumulation, bioconcentration.

Cumulative increase in the concentration and toxicity of a persistent substance in successively higher levels of the food chain.

The net effect of bioconcentration (accumulation of pollutants via dermal or respiratory tissue exposure), bioaccumulation (accumulation via ingestion), and depuration (excretion or loss of pollutants via metabolic processes).

increase of concentration of DDT, PCB's, and other slowly degradable, fat-soluble chemicals in organisms at successively higher trophic levels of a food chain or web. Compare with bioaccumulation.

Biomagnification refers to the process in which chemical levels in plants or animals increase from transfer through the food web (e.g., predators have greater concentrations of a particular chemical than their prey).