food chain

Tiny plastic particles called "microplastics" and which concentrate pollutants might be ingestible by the ocean's tiny denizens and then move up the food chain.

(University of Pittsburgh) The latest findings of a University of Pittsburgh-based project to determine the environmental impact of routine pesticide use suggests that malathion -- the most popular insecticide in the United States -- can decimate tadpole populations by altering their food chain, according to research published in the Oct. 1 edition of Ecological Applications.

New research shows that while engineered nanomaterials can be transferred up the lowest levels of the food chain from single celled organisms to higher multicelled ones, the amount transferred was relatively low and there was no evidence of the nanomaterials concentrating in the higher level organisms.

A new study in the journal Freshwater Biology revealed the biomass (total mass of an organism in an area) of the black-bellied salamander far exceeds any previous estimates, and the contribution of the species and its habitat may be critical in the food chain.