Methylmercury biomagnifies in an ecosystem, meaning its concentration ____ as it moves through each higher trophic level
increases
Methylmercury concentration increases as it moves through each higher trophic level in an ecosystem. This process is known as biomagnification. To understand why this happens, let's first define the term "trophic level."
In an ecosystem, a trophic level refers to the position of an organism in a food chain or food web. The lowest level consists of producers (typically plants or algae) that convert solar energy into organic compounds through photosynthesis. The next level consists of herbivores that consume the producers, followed by carnivores that eat the herbivores, and so on.
Now, let's explain how methylmercury gets magnified in an ecosystem. Methylmercury is a toxic form of mercury that can be produced from inorganic mercury by certain bacteria. These bacteria are found in aquatic environments, such as lakes and oceans. Methylmercury is then taken up by small organisms like plankton, which are usually present at the lower trophic levels.
When these small organisms are eaten by larger organisms, such as fish or zooplankton, the methylmercury gets transferred to the predators. However, only a small fraction of the methylmercury is eliminated or excreted from the predator's body, while the remainder is stored and accumulates in their tissues. As a result, the concentration of methylmercury increases in the bodies of these predators.
This process continues as higher trophic level organisms consume lower trophic level organisms, transferring and accumulating methylmercury along the food chain. The higher up the food chain an organism is, the greater the potential for biomagnification of methylmercury. Consequently, top predators, like large fish or marine mammals, tend to have the highest concentrations of methylmercury in their bodies.
To understand the specific concentration of methylmercury at each trophic level in an ecosystem, scientific studies and monitoring are typically conducted. These studies involve collecting samples at different levels in the food chain and analyzing them to measure methylmercury concentrations.