Biomagnification vs. Bioaccumulation — What's the Difference?

Biomagnification, also known as bioamplification or biological magnification, is any concentration of a toxin, such as pesticides, in the tissues of tolerant organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain. This increase can occur as a result of: Persistence – where the substance cannot be broken down by environmental processes Food chain energetics – where the substance's concentration increases progressively as it moves up a food chain Low or non-existent rate of internal degradation or excretion of the substance – mainly due to water-insolubility Biological magnification often refers to the process whereby certain substances such as pesticides or heavy metals work their way into lakes, rivers and the ocean, and then move up the food chain in progressively greater concentrations as they are incorporated into the diet of aquatic organisms such as zooplankton, which in turn are eaten perhaps by fish, which then may be eaten by bigger fish, large birds, animals, or humans.

Bioaccumulation is the gradual accumulation of substances, such as pesticides or other chemicals, in an organism. Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a substance at a rate faster than that at which the substance is lost or eliminated by catabolism and excretion.

The increasing concentration of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in the tissues of organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain.

The accumulation of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in various tissues of a living organism

(biology) The process, in an ecosystem, in which a higher concentration of a substance in an organism is obtained higher up the food chain.

(biology) The process by which substances accumulate in the tissues of living organisms; used especially of toxic substances that accumulate via a food chain.