A pesticide which is a chlorinated hydrocarbon is sprayed on a food crop. The food chain is : Food crop – Rat – Snake – Hawk. In this food chain, the highest concentration of the pesticide would accumulate in which one of the following ?
(a) Food crop (b) Rat (c) Snake (d) Hawk
(d) Biomagnification is the phenomenon of increasing concentration of compound in the tissue of organism, as the compound passes up a food chain, usually as a result of food intake. In this case, the concentration of compound will increase with increasing the tropic level. Biomagnifying pollutants which increases in concentration from producers → Primary consumers → Secondary consumers →Tertiary consumers → Top consumer. Hawk is the top consumer, so the pesticide concentration will be highest in Hawk.