Title: biomagnification
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - biomagnification
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.14484
Status: current

Definition
Sequence of processes by which higher concentrations of a substance are attained in organisms at higher trophic levels.
Result of these processes of bioconcentration and bioaccumulation by which tissue concentrations of bioaccumulated chemicals increase as the chemical passes up through two or more trophic levels.
Note: Biomagnification occurs in a food chain as a consequence of efficient transfer of a substance from food to consumer accompanied by the lack of, or very slow, excretion or degradation of the substance.

Related Term
- trophic levels: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/15113

Source
- PAC, 2009, 81, 829. 'Glossary of terms used in ecotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)' on page 849 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-08-07-09)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/14484/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/14484/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/14484/xml

Citation: Citation: 'biomagnification' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.14484
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Accessed: 2026-06-10T23:41:11+00:00