| Domain | Definition | ||
| Administration | 1: The increase in concentration of a chemical in organisms that reside in environments contaminated with low concentrations of various organic compounds. Also used to describe the progressive increase in the amount of a chemical in an organism resulting from rates of absorption of a substance in excess of its metabolism and excretion. (references) | 2: The intake and retention of nonfood substances by a living organism from its environment, resulting in a build-up of the substances in the organism. (references) | |
| Aerospace | Accumulation of a chemical substance in living tissue. (references) | ||
| Agriculture | 1: The absorption and concentration of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and certain pesticides in plants and animals. Toxicity can be expressed in several ways: lead that is ingested by calves can bioaccumulate in their bones, interfering with calcium absorption and bone development; stored chemicals may be released to the blood stream at a later time, for example, during gestation or weight loss; and chemicals may concentrate to lethal levels at upper ends of the food chain. Bioconcentration is a synonym for biaccumulation. (references) | 2: The retention and concentration of a substance by an organism. (references) | 3: The uptake and retention of nonfood substances by a living organism from its environment, resulting in a build-up of the substances in the organism. (references) |
| Environment | 1: Refers to the process by which contaminants such as PCBs accumulate or become magnified as they move up the food chain. PCBs concentrate in tissue and internal organs, and as big fish eat little fish, they accumulate all the PCBs that have been eaten by everyone below them in the food chain. Another term for this is Biological Magnification. (references) | 2: Means by which a living organism could ingest, inhale, or otherwise internally accumulate a foreign substance such as a radioactive particle. (references) | 3: The build-up of a pollutant within the tissues of a living organism to concentrations much higher than the surrounding environment. This usually occurs as predators eat large numbers of prey each having a small amount of a pollutant in their body. (references) | 4: The accumulation and concentration of certain persistent chemicals from water or sediment to organisms in a food chain. (references) |
| Geology | 1: (Also called biomagnification.) The process by which chemical contaminants become more concentrated in the tissues of organisms as they pass higher up the food chain. Heavy metals and pesticides such as DDT are stored in the fatty tissues of animals and are passed along to predators of those animals. The resulting concentrations eventually reach harmful levels in predators at the top of the food chain. Bioaccumulation. (Also called biomagnification.) The process by which chemical contaminants become more concentrated in the tissues of organisms as they pass higher up the food chain. Heavy metals and pesticides such as DDT are stored in the fatty tissues of animals and are passed along to predators of those animals. The resulting concentrations eventually reach harmful levels in predators at the top of the food chain. (references) | 2: The process by which organisms absorb chemicals or elements directly from their environment. (references) | |
| Water | The biological sequestering of a substance at a higher concentration than that at which it occurs in the surrounding environment or medium. Also, the process whereby a substance enters organisms through the gills, epithelial tissues, dietary, or other sources. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
Specialty Expressions: BIOACCUMULATION
| Expressions | Domain | Definition | |
| Bioaccumulation factor | Geology | Concentration of a chemical in living tissue divided by its concentration in the animal's diet. (references) | |
| Bioaccumulation potential | Environment | Evaluates the tendency for a substance to accumulate in the tissue of an aquatic human food chain organism and forms one component of the toxicity/persistence/bioaccumulation and toxicity/mobility/persistence/bioaccumulation factors within the human food chain threat-waste characteristics factor category. (references) | |
| Bioaccumulation potential factor value (BPFV) | Environment | BPFV is a measure based on a hierarchy of three types of data: bioconcentration factor; n-octanol-water partition coefficient (Kow); and water solubility. Bioaccumulation potential factor value reflects the tendency for a substance to accumulate in the tissue of an aquatic organism C the greater the bioaccumulation potential factor value, the greater the relative tendency of a substance to accumulate. Bioaccumulation potential factor values for commonly encountered hazardous substances are listed in SCDM. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
Topics by Level of Interest: BIOACCUMULATION | ||||
| Topics sorted by level of Interest | Level (1=low, 600=high) | Topics sorted Alphabetically | Level (1=low, 600=high) | |
| Bioaccumulation | 8 | Bioaccumulation | 8 | |
Source: the editor, created by/for EVE to gauge likely levels of human interest in linguistically triggered topics (compiled across various sources, such as Wikipedia and specialty expression glosses). | ||||
