biomagnification case study

Onondaga Lake is roughly 4.5 miles long, 1 mile wide, and lies in Central New York, next to the city of Syracuse. Methyl mercury, the mercury found in aquatic systems, is among the most poisonous chemicals known.165,000 lbs of mercury is believed to be in the lake.found by fish in the lake. Scientists estimate that 7 million cubic yards of lake-bottom sediments are contaminated as a result. the way bio-magnification works is as a predator eats in its food chain (if the food is contaminated)it will be contaminated as well.for ex... a lawn maintenance or farmer will spray grass with DDT to stop insects, a shrew will eat 1000 blades of grass, and a hawk will eat 10 shrews. and just like that the hawk receives 10000 times the amount of DDT. In onondaga lake the humans will dump mercury, the mercury will infect the water, algae, and small organisms(micro-invertibray). then the fish will eat those organisms(along with birds) and just like that, bio-magnification. in efforts to clean the lake, humans have stopped the pollution of the lake, and for years we have been sweeping,testing,and cleaning the water.

http://www.onondaganation.org/land-rights/onondaga-lake/