Question

worth 50 points


Mecayla harvests oysters from the shallow waters of the marsh near her home. She eats the shellfish three times a week. Recent water quality tests show moderate levels of heavy metals in the river and marsh. What is the most likely outcome of this pollutant on the oysters Mecayla harvests?

Heavy metals will bioaccumulate in the oysters.
There will be fewer oysters to harvest in the marsh.
Metals are water soluble, so oysters will be safe.
Oysters will suffer from biomagnification.

Answer 1

Given that organisms accumulate contaminants into their bioavailable fractions, we can conclude that the most likely outcome of this pollutant on the oysters is that heavy metals will bioaccumulate in the oysters.

Heavy metals that are often found in water include:

• Lead
• Copper
• Arsenic
• Cadmium
• Manganese

and more.

Though some metals are water-soluble, this does little to lessen the negative impact of their presence in the water. Water is used as an essential resource for all life. Metals in high concentrations, even those soluble in water, have been shown to be fatal to many organisms, including oysters.

Though oysters would suffer to a degree from biomagnification, which is the accumulation of toxins in an organism through the food chain, this will most likely become a serious problem higher up on the food chain, as the oysters are consumed by predators.

The most likely outcome of these pollutants in the water is that the Heavy metals will bioaccumulate in the oysters. This is due to the fact that the oysters will absorb the metals from the water. At high enough concentrations, this will lead to a decrease in the number of oyster offspring, possibly even reducing it to half.

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