Agricultural and industrial runoff can introduce persistent toxins, such as heavy metals or synthetic organochlorides, into aquatic ecosystems. Ecotoxicologists observe that the concentration of these substances in the tissues of apex predators is many times greater than in the primary producers or primary consumers at the base of the food web.
Which term specifically describes this progressive increase in the concentration of a substance at successively higher trophic levels in a food chain?
Eutrophication
Bioaccumulation
Biomagnification
Bioremediation