Methylmercury contamination of fisheries from centuries of industrial atmospheric emissions negatively impacts humans and wildlife worldwide. The response of fish methylmercury concentrations to changes in mercury deposition has been difficult to establish because sediments/soils contain large pools of historical contamination, and many factors in addition to deposition affect fish mercury. To test directly the response of fish contamination to changing mercury deposition, we conducted a whole-ecosystem experiment, increasing the mercury load to a lake and its watershed by the addition of enriched stable mercury isotopes. The isotopes allowed us to distinguish between experimentally applied mercury and mercury already present in the ecosystem and to examine bioaccumulation of mercury deposited to different parts of the watershed. Fish methylmercury concentrations responded rapidly to changes in mercury deposition over the first 3 years of study. Essentially all of the increase in fish methylmercury concentrations came from mercury deposited directly to the lake surface. In contrast, <1% of the mercury isotope deposited to the watershed was exported to the lake. Steady state was not reached within 3 years. Lake mercury isotope concentrations were still rising in lake biota, and watershed mercury isotope exports to the lake were increasing slowly. Therefore, we predict that mercury emissions reductions will yield rapid (years) reductions in fish methylmercury concentrations and will yield concomitant reductions in risk. However, a full response will be delayed by the gradual export of mercury stored in watersheds. The rate of response will vary among lakes depending on the relative surface areas of water and watershed.bioaccumulation ͉ mercury methylation ͉ stable isotopes ͉ whole-ecosystem experimentation ͉ methylmercury

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The methane cycle of an artificially eutrophic shield lake is considered by relating in situ rates of production to rates of oxidation and evasion. Methane production rates f’or oxygenated and anoxic sediments were quite consistant throughout the year, ranging from ~1.0 to ~10 mmol m−2 sediment d−1. Methane oxidation rates were highly variable (0.02–32 mmol m−2 lake surface d−1) as were evasion rates (0.0–60 mmol m−2 lake surface d−1). Oxidation and evasion rates both peaked during fall overturn and were very low during the remainder of the year. Methane production was important in regenerating carbon from sediments. Fifty‐five percent of total carbon input was regenerated as methane during 1 year and 36% of this total carbon input was recycled by methane oxidation. Methane oxidation was not an important source of carbon dioxide for primary producers or of seston for secondary grazers during the summer. During some winters production of particulate carbon by methane oxidizers may have been an important source of seston for grazers. Methane oxidation was the most important contributor to the development of total lake anoxia under ice cover.

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