Pollution
Hardbiology
Biomagnification occurs strongly with substances that are:
Select the correct option:
Solution
Incorrect! Answer:
Lipophilic and persistent
- Biological Magnification: The increase in concentration of a toxic substance (like DDT or mercury) at successive trophic levels.
- Requirement for Persistence: The substance must be biologically persistent (i.e., not easily broken down or metabolized).
- Solubility: It must be lipophilic (fat-soluble). This means the substance accumulates in the fatty tissues of organisms rather than being dissolved in water and excreted.
- Mechanism: When a predator eats many prey items, it ingests all the toxins accumulated in those prey, leading to much higher concentrations in the predator's body.
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About This Question
- Subject
- biology
- Chapter
- ecology and environment
- Topic
- pollution
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Year
- 2025
Solution
Correct Answer:
Lipophilic and persistent
- Biological Magnification: The increase in concentration of a toxic substance (like DDT or mercury) at successive trophic levels.
- Requirement for Persistence: The substance must be biologically persistent (i.e., not easily broken down or metabolized).
- Solubility: It must be lipophilic (fat-soluble). This means the substance accumulates in the fatty tissues of organisms rather than being dissolved in water and excreted.
- Mechanism: When a predator eats many prey items, it ingests all the toxins accumulated in those prey, leading to much higher concentrations in the predator's body.
This hard difficulty biology question is from the chapter ecology and environment, covering the topic of pollution. It appeared in the 2025 exam.
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