Biomagnification Case Study

Bio-magnification is the process in which the concentration of toxins increases in each successive link in the food chain. This has been prevalent in the ecosystem of Onondaga Lake since the human interaction has caused an immense spike in the amount of mercury in the environment. Mercury was a bi-product of the manufactured goods at Solvay Process. This mercury was introduced into the lake by (at the time) the legal dumping of it into the lake beds by Solvay Process as well as other factories. This is supported when the cite http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/8668.html says " Use of the lake changed dramatically when the water and lake bottom sediments became polluted with municipal sewage waste and industrial pollution which resulted in low oxygen levels and elevated levels of nutrients, harmful microorganisms such as disease causing bacteria, and toxic contaminants. For over 125 years industrial and chemical operations disposed a variety of pollutants to the lake. At one time industry discharged approximately 20 pounds of mercury to the lake each day. As a result of this, surface water was contaminated with mercury" ("Disclaimer." Onondaga Lake Superfund Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.) As a result of our polluting, the food chain in the ecosystem was thrown out of balance as well, this is evident when the algae absorbs the mercury, then the algae is eaten by the mosquito larvae which absorb more mercury than one algae could have, then the larvae are eaten by lycosid spiders when they are grown, and then the lycocid spiders absorb more mercury than one larvae could have, and finally bats eat the spiders which again absorb more mercury than the one spider could have. All of this is due to the process of bio-magnification which I explained earlier in this post. Clean up efforts have so far shown to be working based on the levels of mercury in the water based on numbers from (Syracuse.com, Special To. "The Science Is Correct: Mercury Levels of Onondaga Lake Fish Are Dropping (Commentary)." N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.) this source states that "The water quality of Onondaga Lake is the best it has been in many decades, and the current mercury status of the lake is far better than at any time since measurements were initiated in the 1970s." This shows that efforts to clean up the lake have been effective. This a lesson for all society's that industry can have negative far reaching and long term consequences on entire ecosystem.