Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)/Biomagnification and Bioaccumulation

Question 1

What are POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) and some examples?

Answer 1

Do not easily break down in the environment because they are synthetic, carbon-based molecules

• DDT: affected osprey eggs
• PCBs

Question 2

What are the characteristics of POPs that make them dangerous?

Answer 2

• soluble in fat, which allows them to accumulate in organisms’ fatty tissues
• Can travel over long distances via wind/water before being redeposited

Question 3

Bioaccumulation

Answer 3

• selective absorption and concentration of elements or compounds by cells in a living organism (the “pulling in” the toxic compound into the body of the organism, usually soluble in fat, happens at the first trophic level)

Question 4

Biomagnification

Answer 4

• increase in the concentration of toxic elements/compounds that pose a risk to higher trophic levels of a food chain or in a food web
• specialist species are more vulnerable because they usually only feed on one type of organism, thus will eat more of one polluted organism

Question 5

What is the difference between bioaccumulation and biomagnification?

Answer 5

Bioaccumulation is the first step, happens at lower trophic levels, biomagnification is the process by which the toxic compounds’ harmful effects increase as higher trophic levels consume

Question 6

Effects of Biomagnification in Animals

Answer 6

• eggshell thinning

- developmental deformities (mandible/jaw issues in predators)

Question 7

Effects of Biomagnification in Humans

Answer 7

• reproductive issues
• nervous system issues
• circulatory system issues

Question 8

What are the three examples of POPs that are important to know?

Answer 8

• DDT (osprey eggs’ thin)
• Mercury (in fish)
• PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls - highly toxic industrial compounds?