Bioaccumulation: An Example of the Human Impact on Biodiversity

• In parts A and B of the activity students will model bioaccumulation of mercury in an aquatic food chain, and the bioaccumulation of tetra-ethyl lead within fat cells. The modeling will demonstrate how bioaccumulation can occur at the environmental and organismal levels. In part C, students will research and design a solution to mitigate the bioaccumulation of a substance of their choice at the environmental and organismal levels.

Items included in this lab are listed below.

Dialysis tubing, Cytoplasm, Tetra-ethyl lead solution.