The fate of mercury in Arctic terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, a review

Thomas A. Douglas; Lisa L. Loseto; Robie W. Macdonald; Peter Outridge; Aurélien Dommergue; Alexandre Poulain; Marc Amyot; Tamar Barkay; Torunn Berg; John Chételat; Philippe Constant; Marlene Evans; Christophe Ferrari; Nikolaus Gantner; Matthew Stanley Johnson; Jane Kirk; Niels Kroer; Catherine Larose; David Lean; Torkel Gissel Nielsen; Laurier Poissant; Sigurd Rognerud; Henrik Skov; Søren Johannes Sørensen; Feiuye Wang; Simon Wilson; Christian M. Zdanowicz

doi:10.1071/EN11140

The fate of mercury in Arctic terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, a review

Thomas A. Douglas, Lisa L. Loseto, Robie W. Macdonald, Peter Outridge, Aurélien Dommergue, Alexandre Poulain, Marc Amyot, Tamar Barkay, Torunn Berg, John Chételat, Philippe Constant, Marlene Evans, Christophe Ferrari, Nikolaus Gantner, Matthew Stanley Johnson, Jane Kirk, Niels Kroer, Catherine Larose, David Lean, Torkel Gissel NielsenLaurier Poissant, Sigurd Rognerud, Henrik Skov, Søren Johannes Sørensen, Feiuye Wang, Simon Wilson, Christian M. Zdanowicz

79 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This review is the result of a series of multidisciplinary meetings organised by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme as part of their 2011 Assessment 'Mercury in the Arctic'. This paper presents the state-of-the-art knowledge on the environmental fate of mercury following its entry into the Arctic by oceanic, atmospheric and terrestrial pathways. Our focus is on the movement, transformation and bioaccumulation of Hg in aquatic (marine and fresh water) and terrestrial ecosystems. The processes most relevant to biological Hg uptake and the potential risk associated with Hg exposure in wildlife are emphasised. We present discussions of the chemical transformations of newly deposited or transported Hg in marine, fresh water and terrestrial environments and of the movement of Hg from air, soil and water environmental compartments into food webs. Methylation, a key process controlling the fate of Hg in most ecosystems, and the role of trophic processes in controlling Hg in higher order animals are also included. Case studies on Eastern Beaufort Sea beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) and landlocked Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) are presented as examples of the relationship between ecosystem trophic processes and biologic Hg levels. We examine whether atmospheric mercury depletion events (AMDEs) contribute to increased Hg levels in Arctic biota and provide information on the links between organic carbon and Hg speciation, dynamics and bioavailability. Long-term sequestration of Hg into non-biological archives is also addressed. The review concludes by identifying major knowledge gaps in our understanding, including: (1) the rates of Hg entry into marine and terrestrial ecosystems and the rates of inorganic and MeHg uptake by Arctic microbial and algal communities; (2) the bioavailable fraction of AMDE-related Hg and its rate of accumulation by biota and (3) the fresh water and marine MeHg cycle in the Arctic, especially the marine MeHg cycle.

Original language	English
Journal	Environmental Chemistry (Online)
Volume	9
Issue number	4
Pages (from-to)	321-355
Number of pages	35
ISSN	1449-8979
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1071/EN11140
Publication status	Published - 2012

Keywords

chemistry
environmental studies

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Douglas, T. A., Loseto, L. L., Macdonald, R. W., Outridge, P., Dommergue, A., Poulain, A., Amyot, M., Barkay, T., Berg, T., Chételat, J., Constant, P., Evans, M., Ferrari, C., Gantner, N., Johnson, M. S., Kirk, J., Kroer, N., Larose, C., Lean, D., ... Zdanowicz, C. M. (2012). The fate of mercury in Arctic terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, a review. Environmental Chemistry (Online), 9(4), 321-355. https://doi.org/10.1071/EN11140

Douglas, TA, Loseto, LL, Macdonald, RW, Outridge, P, Dommergue, A, Poulain, A, Amyot, M, Barkay, T, Berg, T, Chételat, J, Constant, P, Evans, M, Ferrari, C, Gantner, N, Johnson, MS, Kirk, J, Kroer, N, Larose, C, Lean, D, Nielsen, TG, Poissant, L, Rognerud, S, Skov, H, Sørensen, SJ, Wang, F, Wilson, S & Zdanowicz, CM 2012, 'The fate of mercury in Arctic terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, a review', Environmental Chemistry (Online), vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 321-355. https://doi.org/10.1071/EN11140

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AU - Douglas, Thomas A.

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AU - Poulain, Alexandre

AU - Amyot, Marc

AU - Barkay, Tamar

AU - Berg, Torunn

AU - Chételat, John

AU - Constant, Philippe

AU - Evans, Marlene

AU - Ferrari, Christophe

AU - Gantner, Nikolaus

AU - Johnson, Matthew Stanley

AU - Kirk, Jane

AU - Kroer, Niels

AU - Larose, Catherine

AU - Lean, David

AU - Nielsen, Torkel Gissel

AU - Poissant, Laurier

AU - Rognerud, Sigurd

AU - Skov, Henrik

AU - Sørensen, Søren Johannes

AU - Wang, Feiuye

AU - Wilson, Simon

AU - Zdanowicz, Christian M.

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AB - This review is the result of a series of multidisciplinary meetings organised by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme as part of their 2011 Assessment 'Mercury in the Arctic'. This paper presents the state-of-the-art knowledge on the environmental fate of mercury following its entry into the Arctic by oceanic, atmospheric and terrestrial pathways. Our focus is on the movement, transformation and bioaccumulation of Hg in aquatic (marine and fresh water) and terrestrial ecosystems. The processes most relevant to biological Hg uptake and the potential risk associated with Hg exposure in wildlife are emphasised. We present discussions of the chemical transformations of newly deposited or transported Hg in marine, fresh water and terrestrial environments and of the movement of Hg from air, soil and water environmental compartments into food webs. Methylation, a key process controlling the fate of Hg in most ecosystems, and the role of trophic processes in controlling Hg in higher order animals are also included. Case studies on Eastern Beaufort Sea beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) and landlocked Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) are presented as examples of the relationship between ecosystem trophic processes and biologic Hg levels. We examine whether atmospheric mercury depletion events (AMDEs) contribute to increased Hg levels in Arctic biota and provide information on the links between organic carbon and Hg speciation, dynamics and bioavailability. Long-term sequestration of Hg into non-biological archives is also addressed. The review concludes by identifying major knowledge gaps in our understanding, including: (1) the rates of Hg entry into marine and terrestrial ecosystems and the rates of inorganic and MeHg uptake by Arctic microbial and algal communities; (2) the bioavailable fraction of AMDE-related Hg and its rate of accumulation by biota and (3) the fresh water and marine MeHg cycle in the Arctic, especially the marine MeHg cycle.

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KW - environmental studies

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DO - 10.1071/EN11140

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SN - 1448-2517

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SP - 321

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JO - Environmental Chemistry

JF - Environmental Chemistry

IS - 4

ER -

The fate of mercury in Arctic terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, a review

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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