Biomagnification Lab Quiz

Procedure

1. Count "M" and determine amount of ppm per phytoplankton 2. Give 5 M&M's to small cup (zooplankton) calculate ppm per zooplankton 3. Give 20 M&M's to medium cup (minnow) calculate ppm per minnow 4. Give 40 M&M's to large cup (Eel #1) calculate ppm 5. Give 60 M&M's to large cup (Eel #2) calculate ppm 6. Give ALL M&M's to bowl (Osprey) calculate ppm

What are dirty dozens?

Long-lived, fat-soluble toxins

COLUMN A: DDT INGESTED (PPM)

find the average by multiplying according to amount of organisms consumed. Your final osprey number will be your (phytoplankton x 100).

DICHLORO-DIPHENYL-TRICHLOROETHANE (DDT)

first synthetic pesticide that was used to combat malaria and other diseases carried by insects.

What happens to the levels of DDT as you go up the food chain?

increase as you go up the food chain. This makes organisms near the top of the food chain extremely vulnerable to the effects of biomagnification, since fat-soluble toxins NEVER go away, they are just transferred.

Biomagnification

is the increase of a fat-soluble toxin at each level of the food chain. It refers more to the transfers and how the toxins accumulate through a food chain.

Bioaccumulation

talks about the process by which a fat-soluble toxin builds up/increases within the tissues of an organism. The organism absorbs these toxins at a faster rate than it is lost.

What are the 12 dirty dozens?

Dioxin, Aldrin, Chlordane, PCB, DDT, Heptachlor, HCB, Mirex, Dieldrin, toxaphene, and PCDD/PCDF, Endrin

What are some biases and assumptions we made in the lab?

Each predator in a trophic level would consume the exact same amount of prey as the others in the trophic level None of the organisms got DDT from any other food source Every organism was fully consumed in each trophic level

What sources of error are there in the lab?

Loss of M&Ms Incorrect Calculations Incorrect estimation of the printed M Mixed up Ms

Does DDT have a positive or negative effect on birds? Why?

Negative. DDT altered how birds metabolized calcium. Since these birds could not process calcium properly, these birds could not build shells for their offspring that were strong enough to last through incubation.

Does DDT have a positive or negative effect on humans? What are the effects?

Negative. Some of these effects include premature births, low weight babies, increased chances of breast cancers, miscarriages, male infertility. DDT is considered a cancer-causing agent.

COLUMN D - NAME OF TROPHIC LEVEL/FEEDING RELATIONSHIP

PHYTOPLANKTON - PRIMARY PRODUCER (Produces food from sunlight, since its algae) ZOOPLANKTON - PRIMARY CONSUMER/HERBIVORE (From what we see, it only eats algae) MINNOW - SECONDARY CONSUMER/CARNIVORE (It eats the zooplankton!) BOTH EELS - TERTIARY CONSUMERS/CARNIVORES OSPREY - TOP CONSUMER (Eats all, nothing eats it)

What is P.O.P?

Persistent Organic Pollutant which tries to eliminate and/or control the use of DDT and other P.O.Ps around the world.

What food chain did we use in the lab?

Phytoplankton → Zooplankton → Minnow → Eels → Osprey

What did we use to represent the organisms in the lab?

The DDT toxins (ppm) = The "M" on the candy Phytoplankton = M&M Zooplankton = Small Cups Medium cups = Minnow Eels = Larger Cups Osprey = Bowl

Possible similarities and differences of the pyramids

There are 100 times more DDT found in the osprey than one phytoplankton. The pyramid of numbers and the energy are similar since they both decrease as you move up the pyramid, while the relative concentrations of DDT is different because it increases as you go up All of the pyramids represent the flow between the trophic levels The relative concentrations of DDT should be more of an upside down triangle instead

Is this an accurate lab (real world)?

This lab is not accurate compared to the "real world". In the "real world", there isn't as much DDT to begin with. In the lab, our DDT was around 0.8 for each phytoplankton while in the "real world" it is around 0.4.

Water-soluble toxins

Water-soluble toxins are excreted

COLUMN B - ENERGY ACQUIRED (KCAL)

We are given the information that each phytoplankton has 200 kcal of energy. We are given the information that each phytoplankton has 200 kcal of energy.

How many organisms did each organism eat?

Zooplanktons ate 5 phytoplankton/algae Minnows ate 4 zooplankton Eel 1 eats 2 minnows Eel 2 eats 3 minnows Osprey eats 2 eels

COLUMN C - TOTAL ENERGY AT TROPHIC LEVEL (KCAL)

each phytoplankton has 200 kcal, and there are 100 phytoplankton, the entire trophic level has 20,000 kcal. From then on, use the 10% rule, and divide by 10 as you go down. When you get to the eels, remember that they are the same trophic level, so they have the same amount of energy.

Fat-soluble toxins

remain within the tissues of organisms so that when that organism is eaten, the consumers eats the toxins as well