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Certain harmful substances, usually ones not found in nature but introduced by man, may get into plants and/or animals. These poisonous substances may not be broken down in the body or excreted easily, efficiently and quickly. Instead, they accumulate in the tissues, and as the living organism eats more, the concentration of these substances increases and they pass from one trophic level to the next.
Since man is an omnivore and has access to all trophic levels for food, he gets the toxic substances into his body in large amounts.
Secondary and tertiary consumers located on top of the food chain also get the poison into their body, and accumulate in large concentrations.
This phenomenon is called 'Biological magnification'.
Example 1:
Example 2:
