Chapter 92

Snake Report: Lost in the Surface World, Day 3

Ever heard of the terms Biodegradable, Biomagnification, or Bioaccumulation?

No points of the Snake-report test if you haven't. That's probably normal.

I'd guess that most haven't heard of these, much less learned enough about them to pitch-in for team-trivia.

They're all slightly different, after-all, but they're all equally important to consider sometimes. Ecological impacts can be had when considering each of them as a separate attribute to a substance or specific mixture of chemicals.

See, back when I was a human, I think there were probably millions up millions of dollars spent on trying to determine if substances or chemicals had any of those qualities about them. Companies, Governments, 3rd party Agencies: people had a pretty big interest in knowing the details on these thing, and the basic premise behind why they were so important is fairly straight-forward.

A chemical that isn't easily biodegradable, that can bioaccumulate, AND also naturally biomagnifies through the food-chain?

Well, that chemical has the potential to wreck just about absolutely everything.

I present you with an example:

Imagine you're a mushroom, with a very-very-very-very concentrated level of certain-death poison in your body. That "chemical" is apparently not very biodegradable, and can be bio-accumulated by any creature it doesn't happen to kill.

So... if say, a Tiny snake eats a mushroom with this poison in it- and doesn't die... then eats more and more mushrooms with that same poison... well, obviously the snake is going to become much more dangerous than the mushrooms ever were- right?

It's going to have a higher concentration of this bad "chemical."

That right there is both Bioaccumulation, and a very lesser degree of biomagnification. From the Mushroom to the snake, that poison just got worse.

You picking up what I'm putting down here Tiny Snake class? That's science.

Boring human stuff, that fantasy monsters don't normally care about.

But see now, if you're a snake that eats poison, you probably just do it because you're hungry and you don't want to starve. You're probably not thinking "Wow- I'm a slithering death-package for the next thing that tries to eat me" you're just thinking "Mushrooms don't try to kill me in a horrible manner now that I've gotten used to the delicious poisonous flavor, so they're safe to eat."

But

Now imagine that a really large predator eats that snake-you.

Logically, that large predator is probably going to die, right?

"Duh" Says the class. Right, right, I hear you. Hold the boredom for a second.

So that giant predator obviously dies from poison. In a perfect world, that poison might dissipate with time, but we already confirmed it doesn't really- considering the snake has been accumulating it. So it sticks around- and though logically some other creatures besides the snake or predator might be able to break down that poison at a different/quicker rate, but what if they can't? What if any predator that eats something this poisonous dies before that can make a difference?

Well, there's the start of our problem. If that poison sticks around and doesn't disperse naturally... well, then the next logical question is: What if a bunch of other predators come and eat that big dead one?

Well... they're going to find that the big dead predator was full of that very same poison, and if that poison was so concentrated?

Well, then it's probably going to kill them too.

So, Tiny Snake Class, what comes next? Lets follow the Monster-world circle of life. Things, die, and other things eat them (generally speaking) so now what?

Right.

What if even MORE predators come and see all these tasty looking and conveniently dead/dying creatures succumbing to poison- and then they eat them?

Hiss...

Connect the dots yet Tiny-Snake Class?

Yes.

They're all equally screwed.

Equally screwed until the poison is diluted enough for the next in line to take a bite is able to NOT die from it, or whatever magical attribute the [EXTREMELY TOXIC] passive has in-play wears off.

Apparently eating highly toxic mushrooms and mana crystals for a living has turned me into the chemical equivalent of a chemical disaster. I've magnified so much terrible stuff into my scales and flesh, I'm basically death turned adorable.

This ain't just PCBs and Bird-eggshell integrity here: This is a bonafide [Calamity]

Hiss...

Carrying capacity for most predatory species is going to be significantly out of projections for the next few years. I can only imagine the long-term devastation that's going to follow as this sorts itself out.

In the mean time though, I willing dedicate this unholy and merciless slaughter of the Forest's natural ecosystem to the Tiny Snake God.

As their faithful and devoted follower, it is my hope that at the very least this sacrifice pleases them.