Question

Biomagnification refers to

• A. Rapid growth due to excessive intake of nutrients
• B. Increase in population size
• C. Decrease in population size
• D. Increase in concentration of nondegradable pollutants as they pass through food chain.

Answer 1

The correct option is D Increase in concentration of nondegradable pollutants as they pass through food chain.

Biomagnification is the property of a toxin to accumulate in the food chain by solubilizing with the adipose tissues of the living organisms. It is seen that the level of nondegradable pollutants increases as the food chain progresses. It means, the primary consumers will have more nondegradable pollutants concentration than the producers, the secondary consumers will have more than primary consumers and so on. The highest concentrations will be seen in the top carnivore. This is because the consumers at the successive trophic level consume more than the previous level to fulfil the energy requirements. Due to this, nondegradable pollutants keeps on accumulating in the successive trophic levels in higher concentrations. This process is called the biomagnification.

Hence, the correct answer is 'Increase in concentration of nondegradable pollutants as they pass through food chain.'