Question

Consider a toxin (with the ability to bioaccumulate) used on the insects. If the insects are exposed to this toxin, explain how this toxin can also reach lizards and predatory birds based on the diagram you made from #1

Answer 1

Concentrations of this toxin are found in the ant as well as in the lizard and the bird, as they are part of the same food chain. The lizard eats ants and the bird eats the lizard. This phenomenon is called biomagnification.

Biomagnification refers to the cumulative increase in concentrations of a persistent substance as one moves up the food chain (trophic chain).

Biomagnification is therefore a process in which the concentration of a substance present in a biotope increases throughout a food chain; by extension, the result of this process.