In a certain study conducted on occurrence of DDT along food chains in an ecosystem, the concentration of DDT in grass was found to be 0.5 ppm (parts per million), in sheep it was 2ppm and in man it was 10 ppm. Why was the concentration of DDT maximum in case of man?
•DDT is an insecticide and is non-biodegradable compound.
•Once this insecticide sprayed in the environment, it stays for very long time and through food chain into the organisms.
•According to the concept of biomagnification, the maximum accumulation of a non-biodegradable pollutant is maximum in the highest trophic level.
•Hence, DDT gets accumulates at each trophic level and since, man is at the highest trophic level, there is maximum accumulation of DDT observed in them.