With great excitement, we would like to announce a brand-new educational activity now offered here on the RJD website! Utilizing a subset of data from RJD shark research trips, you can investigate the bioaccumulation of methyl mercury in South Florida shark populations.

Broken down into two worksheets, the first part will provide you with a strong background knowledge of what bioaccumulation is and how methyl mercury affects human health.

The second part will walk you through a color-coded Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, organizing and analyzing mercury values found in shark muscle tissue. Then, you will be asked to draw conclusions based on your findings.

As a note, the curriculum is geared toward high school students and above, but anyone is welcome to give it a try! We hope that you will enjoy this new activity, and share your feedback with us. Also, feel free to explore our opportunities for participation in the field, collecting data just like what is used in this worksheet.