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Biomagnification
Hidden Dangers in Food Webs

Purpose: To observe how toxins such as DDT and PCB can accumulate in organisms within a food
web.

Materials: dog food with varying colors, grassy space for a game of tag

Introduction:
Many chemicals produced by industries end up in our waterways through dumping or runoff.
Many of these chemicals can accumulate in the cells of organisms that live in the water. These
chemicals then move up through the food chain and can be damaging or fatal to many types of
organisms. Although the initial level of these chemicals might be low, the concentration of these
chemicals can increase/magnify as they move up food chains. This is known as biomagnification.
DDT
(dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane) was the first commonly used insecticide. DDT was
relatively inexpensive to manufacture and had long-lasting effects. DDT enters plants as they take it
in while obtaining water for photosynthesis. DDT is harmful to many organisms as it attacks the
nervous system of animals. Furthermore, it also has adverse effects on many seabirds. DDT
prevents proper eggshell production in birds, which results in very brittle eggs which are then easily
broken. This greatly reduces the rate of successful reproduction for these birds.

Procedure:

1. Randomly spread dog food with at least 2 different colors (simulating grass) into an open space.

2. The students selected to be rabbits will have 2 minutes to collect as much dog food (grass) as
they can.

3. Now the “snakes” will be released to chase the rabbits. If a rabbit is caught, they will give
their bag of dog food/grass to the snake that caught them and remove themselves from the
game.

4. Next, the “hawks” will be released to chase the remaining rabbits and the snakes. Any
“animal” that is tagged will need to give all of their food bags to the hawk that caught them
and then remove themselves from the game.

5. Upon returning to the classroom, each “animal” that is still alive will count the number of
toxic/red pieces of dog food in all of their bags combined.

6. As a class, Calculate the average amount of DDT/toxin for each species type.
a. For example: Average DDT/toxin for rabbits = number of red pieces of dog food for each
living rabbit added together and divided by the total number of rabbits.
 Amount of DDT per organism

Organism Average # o f
to xi n s /species

Plants (grasses)

rabbits <snake toxins

snakes <hawk toxins

Hawks >Rabbit and snake toxins

Analysis Questions:

1. In the space provided below, construct a food chain to illustrate the flow of energy between the
organisms used in this simulation.

Plants  rabbits  snakes  hawks

2. What happened to the amount of DDT per organism as you move up the food chain?

The amount of DDT increases as you move up the food chain.

3. Which organism contained the largest concentration of DDT? The Hawks (the largest predator)
contain the largest concentration of DDT because they eat the other animals where the toxin has built
up.

4. Why is DDT harmful to hawks? (What does it prevent them from doing successfully?) The DDT
prevents the hawks from reproducing successfully. It softens the eggs so that the babies are born too
early and cannot survive.
5. The organisms used as examples in this activity are common in a NY ecosystem in North
America. Using the information below construct a food web of a typical NY ecosystem in the space
provided below.
 Plants (grasses, bushes, trees, etc) undergo photosynthesis
 Mice and rabbits eat these various plants
 Snakes eat rabbits and mice.
 Fox eat grass seeds (plants), rabbits and mice
 Hawks eat rabbits, mice, and snakes
 Coyote eat fox and rabbits and mice
 Eagles eat fox, snakes, mice and rabbits

FOX EAGLE

MICE COYOTE
HAWKS

PLANTS
SNAKES
RABBITS

6. What is one other organism besides hawk that you would expect to have high concentrations of

DDT? Explain your answer. The coyote, because he is also at the top of the food chain where the

DDT toxins have built up to their greatest amount.

7. If the hawk population were to decrease due to DDT, what are two other populations that would

be affected and how? Mice, rabbits and snakes would increase. Plants would decrease
 Thinking further:
The following diagram illustrates a typical marine food web. Mercury, a toxic heavy metal, can
accumulate in the fatty tissue of organisms.

Mako Shark

Mackerel Bluefish

Herring Snapper

Copepods Killifish

Phytoplankton

8. Which organism would you predict to have the highest level of mercury? Explain your answer.

The Mako shark because it is at the top of the food chain where the mercury toxin would
have built up to its greatest amount.

9. Of the following types of fish, which would be the safest to eat? Explain your answer.

Mackerel Snapper Mako Shark Bluefish

The Snapper because it is the lowest consumer in each and every food chain within the food web.