Band 7+: The diagram below illustrates the movement of mercury through a freshwater ecosystem and the food web, including the relationships between aquatic and terrestrial organisms and sources of pollution.

The diagram illustrates how pollutants spread through the food chain from bodies of water to the land.

Overall, the process commences either from industrial facilities pouring discharge into the water or from mercury falling back from air, and this waste is not only left in the freshwater ecosystem; by including bonds between aquatic and terrestrial organisms, it moves towards the ground, resulting in the creation of an unhealthy environment.

In the initial stage, primarily mercury penetrates the water in two ways: the first is by industrial hubs throwing remaining mercury into the bodies of water, while the second is atmospheric deposition of mercury. Following this, discharge and deposition accumulate in the water as sediment, where primary producers such as algae are absorbed. Once algae have been poisoned, larval consumers such as herbivorous and predatory insects are affected. Herbivorous insects become victims of fish, whereas predatory insects emerge onto the land. This represents that industrial discharge leads to pollution throughout the water system.

According to the land, atmospheric deposition of mercury is the main cause of growing poisoned terrestrial vegetation, which is the main food of terrestrial insects. Terrestrial insects fall into a web of spiders, which is a source of nutrition for spiders. Eventually, both poisoned fish in the water and ground-dwelling spiders become food for birds, including piscivorous wildlife and songbirds.