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Biomagnification

Biomagnification. When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. John Muir. Toxins in the environment: 1. Pesticides ( DDT. PCB) ; 2. Industrial chemicals (methyl mercury)….

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Biomagnification

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  1. Biomagnification When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. John Muir

  2. Toxins in the environment: 1. Pesticides (DDT. PCB); 2. Industrial chemicals (methyl mercury)… • Bioaccumulation: A build up of fat soluble toxins in the tissues of organisms. • Biomagnification:The increase in concentration of toxins in consumers at higher trophic levelsin the food chain. • 3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5P-UoKLxlA(2min)

  3. Biomagnification Through the Food Chain

  4. Pyramid of biomass

  5. Food Chain Example Plant  Insect  small fish  big fish  Human http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9vM7y8uENo&feature=player_detailpage (3min) Pyramid of Numbers

  6. Food Chain • What would happen if each piece of plant material has one microscopic drop of the neurotoxin methyl mercury.

  7. Methyl Mercury • Methyl mercury cause the neural disorder Minamata disease. • Symptoms • numbness in limbs & lips, • difficulty hearing & seeing, • shaking (tremors) in arms & legs, difficulty walking, • brain damage & severe birth defects. • 1st identified in Minamata, Japan in 1959 • Due to the dumping of methyl mercury into Minamata Bay by the Chisso Petrochemical Co. • Dumping stopped in 1968 after 2,955 people got the disease – over half died

  8. 1970 Minamata disease occurred in Ontario Canada (Grassy Narrow). Dryden Chemical/ Pulp & Paper Co dumped mercury in the local rivers from 1962- 1970. Ordered to stop in 1970 by the Ontario Gov. when people in a number of people got sick from eating local fish. Methyl mercury can enter the environment through: industrial processes. conversion of mercury to methyl mercury through the action of anaerobic organisms burning of mercury containing wastes & fossil fuels, particularly coal. natural sources such as volcanoes, forest fires & weathering of mercury-bearing rocks.

  9. Back to the Food Chain • One insect eats 25 pieces of plant material, that would mean that each insect would have _______ microscopic drops of methyl mercury in its body.

  10. Food Chain • If one small fish needs 10 insects to live, then one fish would have _____ microscopic drops of methyl mercury.

  11. Food Chain • One big fish eats 5 small fish to live. So, one big fish would collect a total of _____ microscopic drops of methyl mercury in its body.

  12. Food Chain • What about you and me? Lets say we eat 1 big fish a day for 3 days. We would collect total of ______ drops of methyl mercury in our body over the 3 days. This is how biomagnification works!

  13. Food Chain • Which organism will be most affected by the toxin methyl mercury? • Note: The more methyl mercury in the living organism, the more sick it would get.

  14. Organisms Affected by Biomagnification of DDTSilent In The Morning.mp3 • Peregrine Falcon • Bald Eagle • Whooping Crane

  15. DDT interferes with calcium metabolism • This causes the thinning eggshells & reduces the number of eggs that survived to hatching. • The Peregrine Falcon, Bald Eagle & Whooping Crane became an endangered species during the mid 20th century due to habitat loss & overuse of pesticides such as DDT. • Song birds & small mammals were also killed off by DDT (Silent Spring by Rachel Carson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipbc-6IvMQI&list=TL2MjhE_kB8w3ChnO4JZJJY_-ehvU0JT-v (11 min) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbtp2B-IFmw (10 min)). • DDT had no long-term affect on mosquito populations.

  16. TED TALK ocean ecosystem (16 min) • http://i-biology.net/tag/biomagnification/

  17. Horton, in Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who • “We’ve GOT to make noise in greater amounts! So, open your mouth, lad! For every voice counts!” • We're not gonna take it-Twisted sister.mp3

  18. The end!

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