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Biomagnification and
Bioaccumulation
The effects of DDT

A briefe history about DDT

Home DDT actually means dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane. I was first

The effects of DDT introduced in WWII along with penicilian. Before the introduction
of DDT in Sri Lanka the number of cases of Malaria were more
Mercury than 1 million. After DDT was intorduced, by 1963 almost all of
Bioaccumulation this disease were eliminated. This led scientists to belive that the
and hazards of DDT were too much. So DDT was not used in the mid
Biomagnification 1960's in which cases of malaira were growing.
How DDT becomes concentrated in a food chain
Diagrams
Work Cited
 http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/D/DDTandTrophicLevels.htm
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DDT is one of the most common sources of a toxin that is a threat to

organisms in a food chain. DDT is a threat because it affects the nervous
system. If DDT is accidentally swallowed in a large amount DDT can cause
the person to become excitable, have Tremors and seizures. In animals,
short-term exposure to large amounts of DDT in food affected the nervous
system, while long-term exposure to smaller amounts affected the liver. Also
in animals, short-term oral exposure to small amounts of DDT can cause
harmful affects in reproduction. DDT that was exposed to workers did not
show any signs of DDT causing cancer however DDT exposed to animals
showed that animals could develop liver cancer. How DDT can end up in a
food chain is very simple. When DDT used extensively in the 1970’s it was
used as a pesticide control as well it was used to eliminate diseases such as
malaria. DDT is white in colour and tasteless as well as odorless. When DDT
entered the environment for its use as pesticide it stuck to the soil and
therefore a plant that grew out of the soil might have had a very little
concentration of DDT but as a result animal that ate that plant had a
concentration of DDT higher of that than the plant. As this process keeps on
repeating the animals in the high trophic levels which consume an organism
containing DDT are more at risk of having problems in the nervous system or
in more severe cases death. One good thing about DDT is that the DDT that
is in the air is broken down by sunlight. Also only very little amounts of DDT
will dissolve in groundwater as they do not dissolve easily in water.