Tuna Case Study

Part one 1.) What is in some fish and shellfish that has caused the EPA and FDA to issue the restriction for pregnant women and for young children? Mercury 2.) Why is there a restriction for pregnant women and young children, but not the rest of the population? It can affect the fetus and cause malfunction in growth. 3.) Do pregnant women have to avoid all fish? Explain your answer. Not all fish have high toxicity levels, so they do not have to avoid all fish. Fish contains good nutrients that the body needs, so it is okay to not avoid all fish. 4.) Should Amanda have avoided the pan-seared tuna for lunch? There is a chance that the toxicity levels are high in a pan-seared tuna, so she should avoided it. 5.) Why is eating fish good for you? Do you want to avoid fish all together? Why or why not? Fish contains vitamins, which is good for the human body. By eating fish, your eyes would benefit from it. People should not avoid eating fish in general because it is beneficial to the humans health, and not all fish contains high levels of toxicity. Part two 1.) What human actions lead to increased Mercury levels in the environment? By burning coal. 2.) How does the Mercury end in fish? DRAW a flow chart following the Mercury path. The water that the fish swims in contains mercury that is from rain that precipitated form the atmosphere that contained mercury when it was burned in coal power plants.

3.) Where in the United States are Mercury wet deposition levels highest? What do you think explains this pattern? Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida. Those states burns most coal. 4.) The EPA criterion for human health is 0.3 ug/g. Which fish species have average concentrations that exceed the EPA limits? Largemouth and Spotted Bass 5.) The concern level for piscivorous (fish-eating) mammals is 0.1 Hg ug/g. Which fish species have average mercury concentrations that exceed this limit? Why is the mercury level for piscivorous mammals lower than the level for human health? Trout and bass. The immune system of a piscivorous mammal may differ from a human. 6.) Should you be concerned about mercury toxicity if you catch and eat a largemouth bass in a local lake? Why or why not? A largemouth bass contains high levels of mercury so people should be concerned when they catch it. 7: In which samples were mercury concentrations the highest (fish, streams, or sediment)? Why do you think this is? The sediment would contains the highest concentrations of mercury because the mercury stays in the sediment for a long time and takes a while to actually leave it. Part three 1.) Draw a food web for Lake Washington using the species and food preferences given in Table 3. Start with phytoplankton (algae) as the base of your web and then build up the food chain. 2.) Label the species in your food chain as either high (>100 ug/kg), medium (20-100 ug/kg), or low (below 20 ug/kg) mercury concentrations. Which types of animals have the highest levels of mercury? Which types of animals have the lowest? Why do you think this is? Due to biomagnification, the bigger the fish, the more mercury it would contain. And the smaller the creature is, then it would contain less mercury.

Part four 1.) Imagine you are Tara. Write a letter to your friend Amanda explaining what you have learned about mercury. Be sure to convey the aspects of your learning that will be most useful to Amanda. Dear Amanda, You do not have to avoid every fish in the sea when you are pregnant because not every fish have the same amount of mercury in them. The larger the fish, then it would have a higher concentration of mercury. The mercury usually come from the rain that precipitated from the atmosphere that contains mercury from power plants that burned coals. That mercury can get into the fish that inhabits it, and we can eat that fish, which is the reason why we have mercury in our bodies. It is okay to continue eating fish. The smaller the size of the fish, then it would contain less mercury.

2.) Find two other samples of compounds that biomagnify. Explain how each compound and/or toxin enters the biosphere and what impacts it has on living organisms in general and humans in particular. DDT- when people distribute it to their crops, then it would get into the atmosphere. It would usually cause a headache, vomiting, and confusion. Bt corn- the more corn a person consumes, then the more bt gets into their bodies. There is no research that says that it have bad side effects on human health yet. 3.) Distinguish between bioaccumulation and biomagnification and design a mnemonic device for the distinction Bioaccumulation- buildup of toxic chemicals in an organism over time. (BioA = one animal) Biomagnification- when the concentration of the toxins increases as one eat another. (BioM = Many animals)