Bioaccumulation

Bioaccumulation is the buildup of a substance in an organism when uptake exceeds elimination. It can occur through food, water, air, or contact with contaminated material.

Bioconcentration: The buildup of a substance in an organism from its surrounding medium, excluding uptake through food. It isolates water or air uptake from the dietary routes included in bioaccumulation.
Biomonitoring: The use of organisms or biological samples to measure exposure to environmental substances. Tissue concentrations can reveal contaminant exposure that spot measurements in water or air miss.
Persistent organic pollutant: An organic chemical that resists environmental degradation and can travel far from its source. Persistence gives some pollutants more time to accumulate in organisms.
Toxicokinetics: The study of how a substance enters, moves through, is transformed within, and leaves an organism. Its models describe the competing uptake and elimination rates that determine accumulation.
Biomagnification: The increase in a substance’s concentration across successive trophic levels in a food chain. It describes change between organisms, unlike buildup within one organism.
Bioaccumulation factor: A ratio comparing a substance’s concentration in an organism with its concentration in the surrounding environment. This metric quantifies organism–environment accumulation under defined conditions.
Methylmercury: An organic form of mercury produced by microorganisms and readily absorbed by aquatic organisms. Its accumulation in aquatic food webs exposes fish-eating wildlife and people.
Allometry: The study of how biological traits scale with body size. Body size can change feeding, metabolism, and elimination, complicating comparisons among species.
Biotransformation: The chemical alteration of a substance by an organism’s biological processes. Metabolism can convert accumulated chemicals into forms that are easier—or harder—to eliminate.
Biota–sediment accumulation factor: A ratio comparing chemical concentration in an organism with that in sediment, adjusted for organic carbon and lipid content. It helps evaluate sediment-associated chemicals taken up by benthic organisms.

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