The butterfly collection is currently housed at UF's Allyn Museum of Entomology in Sarasota. The McGuires, long-time enthusiasts of Lepidoptera and environmental studies, have donated more than 30,000 butterflies to UF in the past. Frederick, with the assistance of several graduate students, monitored mercury levels in great egret chicks in seven Everglade communal nesting sites. The article reports that mercury in large enough quantities can damage the human nervous system and impair development of fetuses. The articles explain the reason egrets were used in the study.
Great egrets are predators at the top of the food chain.
Therefore, they are good barometers for other species, including herons, ibises, storks and spoonbills, that also live in the Everglades. The exact cause of the decline is uncertain. However, the falling numbers may be a result of decreased mercury use. Mercury use in products such as batteries and industrial processes has been waning since the late 1980s. Studies from the University of Florida and Washington University in St. Louis suggests that antioxidants such as vitamin E and beta-carotene may be most important to children in parts of the world where children suffer from a type of malnutrition called kwashiorkor.