What is "biomagnification"?

Biomagnification refers to the process through which the concentration of toxic substances increases in organisms as one moves up the food chain, specifically at each trophic level. This occurs because higher trophic level organisms consume multiple lower trophic level organisms, which may contain these toxic substances. For instance, when small fish ingest contaminated water or organisms, the toxins accumulate within their bodies. When larger fish eat many small fish, the concentration of toxins can become much higher than it was in any single small fish. This accumulation can pose significant health risks to predators, including humans, who eat these larger fish, resulting in greater exposure to harmful chemicals like heavy metals or persistent organic pollutants. Understanding biomagnification is vital in environmental health, wildlife conservation, and food safety because it highlights the far-reaching effects of pollutants in ecosystems.