Bioaccumulation

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

Infographic illustrating bioaccumulation and biomagnification, showing how toxins build up in small organisms and increase in concentration as they move up the food chain to larger fish and apex predators.

Fish swim among floating plastic bottles and debris in polluted Atlantic Ocean water near Coruna, Spain.

Rachel Carson speaks into multiple microphones at a Senate subcommittee hearing on pesticides in 1963, wearing glasses and a dark dress with papers in front of her.

Bioaccumulation: Media

biology

Images

Infographic illustrating bioaccumulation and biomagnification, showing how toxins build up in small organisms and increase in concentration as they move up the food chain to larger fish and apex predators.

Bioaccumulation and biomagnification

Contaminants enter the food chain during bioaccumulation. They move up the food chain...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Fish swim among floating plastic bottles and debris in polluted Atlantic Ocean water near Coruna, Spain.

Plastic as pollutant

Some scientists consider plastic to be a persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic substance.

© Carmen Martinez Torron—Moment/Getty Images

Rachel Carson speaks into multiple microphones at a Senate subcommittee hearing on pesticides in 1963, wearing glasses and a dark dress with papers in front of her.

Rachel Carson at a Senate subcommittee hearing on pesticides in 1963

American scientist Rachel Carson documented the harmful effects of the pesticide...

© Everett Collection Historical/Alamy