What is biological magnification?
Biological magnification describes increasing concentrations of persistent, biologically available toxins at higher trophic levels. Producers take up a contaminant from water or soil; herbivores consume many producers, and predators consume many contaminated prey. When assimilation exceeds metabolism and excretion, tissue concentration rises at each transfer. Dilution is the opposite pattern, while fertiliser runoff is a pollution source rather than the trophic process itself. Net primary production equals gross primary production minus plant respiration and represents biomass or energy made a
Ref: Campbell Biology, Urry et al., 12th Ed., Unit 8 Ecology
