Bottom‐up nutrient and top‐down fish impacts on insect‐mediated mercury flux from aquatic ecosystems

Jones, Taylor; Chumchal, Matthew M.; Drenner, Ray W.; Timmins, Gabrielle N.; Nowlin, Weston H.

doi:10.1002/etc.2079

Cited by 32 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Mercury in dragonfly adults has been quantified in recent studies of mercury transfer to aquatic and terrestrial food webs . Tsui et al found that dragonflies collected near a stream had a mean MeHg concentration of 180 ng g −1 , which is comparable in the present study to 231 ng g −1 ± 73.5 ng g −1 dry weight for mature adults and 236 ng g −1 ± 50.0 ng g −1 for emerging adults.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…This finding suggests that weight loss may have a disproportionate impact on Hg(II) concentrations relative to MeHg concentrations. Jones et al [21] specifically sampled recently emerged dragonflies and reported %MeHg to be 78.5 AE 4.8%, which supports our finding of a 2fold increase in Hg(II) concentrations in emerging dragonflies over naiads and mature adults. The reason for high Hg(II) concentrations in emerging adults relative to MeHg concentrations (low %MeHg) is unclear, but it is suggestive of effects of weight loss or a mercury transformation mechanism.…”

Section: Mercury Quantification In Life Stagessupporting

confidence: 89%

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Mercury bioaccumulation in dragonflies (Odonata: Anisoptera): Examination of life stages and body regions

Buckland-Nicks

Hillier

Avery

et al. 2014

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Dragonflies (Odonata: Anisoptera) are an important component of both aquatic and terrestrial food webs and are vectors for methylmercury (MeHg) biomagnification. Variations in mercury content with life stage and body regions may affect the relative transfer of mercury to aquatic or terrestrial food webs; however, there has been little research on this subject. Also, little is known about mercury bioaccumulation in different body regions of dragonflies. To address these knowledge gaps, dragonfly naiads, adults, and exuviae were collected at 2 lakes in Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia, Canada, and mercury concentrations in different life stages and body regions were quantified. Mean whole body concentrations of MeHg were substantial in naiads (232 ± 112 ng g(-1) dry wt, n = 66), emerging adults (236 ± 50 ng g(-1) dry wt, n = 10), and mature adults (231 ± 74 ng g(-1) dry wt, n = 20). Mean MeHg concentrations in exuviae (5.6 ± 4.3 ng g(-1), n = 32) were 40-fold lower than in naiads and adults. Emerging adults had 2-fold to 2.5-fold higher Hg(II) concentrations than naiads, mature adults, and exuviae. In body regions of both naiads and adults, some abdomens contained significantly higher concentrations of Hg(II) than heads or thoraces, and this trend was consistent across families. Across families, Aeshnidae had significantly higher concentrations of MeHg and total Hg than Gomphidae and Libellulidae, but not higher than Cordulidae. The Hg(II) concentrations were lower in Aeshnidae and Libellulidae than in Gomphidae and Cordulidae. Shedding of exuviae presents a possible mechanism for mercury detoxification, but mercury concentrations and burdens in exuviae are low in comparison with naiads and adults. Dragonfly adults retain a high potential for transferring substantial amounts of MeHg to their predators.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Mercury Quantification In Life Stagessupporting

confidence: 89%

Mercury bioaccumulation in dragonflies (Odonata: Anisoptera): Examination of life stages and body regions

Buckland-Nicks

Hillier

Avery

et al. 2014

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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“…As ponds age, sediment infilling causes them to become more shallow, and through time they change from permanent with fish to semipermanent without fish and eventually to temporary without fish. Our research has shown that the presence or absence of fish regulates insect emergence and the associated MeHg flux . In permanent ponds with fish, the biomass of small taxa (e.g., chironomids and mosquitoes) and large taxa (e.g., dragonflies) that emerge may be relatively similar .…”

Section: Conceptual Model Of Insect‐mediated Flux Of Mehg From Small mentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Because pond permanence influences aquatic community structure, permanence also influences insect emergence [9,10] and the potential effects of emergent insects on the surrounding terrestrial environment [23][24][25]. Insect emergence differs with the class of pond [9,10].…”

Section: Animals Commonly Associated With Aquatic Food Webs In the Grmentioning

confidence: 99%

An environmental problem hidden in plain sight? Small Human‐made ponds, emergent insects, and mercury contamination of biota in the Great Plains

Chumchal

Drenner

2015

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Mercury (Hg) contamination of small human-made ponds and surrounding terrestrial communities may be 1 of the largest unstudied Hg-pollution problems in the United States. Humans have built millions of small ponds in the Great Plains of the United States, and these ponds have become contaminated with atmospherically deposited mercury. In aquatic ecosystems, less toxic forms of Hg deposited from the atmosphere are converted to highly toxic methylmercury (MeHg). Methylmercury is incorporated into the aquatic food web and then can be transferred to terrestrial food webs via emergent aquatic insects. The authors present a conceptual model that describes the movement of MeHg produced in aquatic ecosystems to terrestrial consumers via insects emerging from small human-made ponds. The authors hypothesize that pond permanence and the level of Hg contamination of the food web control this emergent insect-mediated flux of MeHg. The highest insect-mediated flux of MeHg is predicted to be from fishless semipermanent ponds with food webs that are highly contaminated with MeHg. Further development and testing of the conceptual model presented in the present column, particularly in the context of a changing climate, will require research at the regional, watershed, and pond scales.

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“…Based on Henderson et al. (), Jones, Chumchal, Drenner, Timmins, and Nowlin (), Tweedy et al. (), and Chumchal and Drenner () [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]…”

Section: Network Of Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metacommunities, metaecosystems and the environmental fate of chemical contaminants

Schiesari

Leibold

Burton

2017

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Although pollution is a major driver of ecosystem change, models predicting the environmental fate of contaminants suffer from critical uncertainties related to oversimplifying the dynamics of the biological compartment. It is increasingly recognized that contaminant processing is an outcome of ecosystem functioning, that ecosystem functioning is contingent on community structure and that community structure is influenced by organismal dispersal. We propose a conceptual organization of the contribution of organismal dispersal to local contaminant fate. Direct dispersal effects occur when the dispersing organism directly couples contaminant stocks in spatially separate ecosystems by transporting contaminants in its biomass. Indirect dispersal effects occur when the dispersing organism indirectly influences contaminant fate via community assembly. This can occur either when the dispersing organism is a contaminant processor or when the dispersing organism alters, via species interactions, the abundance of contaminant biotransporters or processors already established in the ecosystem. The magnitude of direct and indirect dispersal effects is modulated by many factors, including other contaminants. These will influence population growth rates of the dispersing species in the donor ecosystem, or the probability that a dispersing individual reaches the recipient ecosystem. We provide a review of pertinent literature demonstrating that these two mechanisms, and their chemical modulation, are well supported or likely to occur in many natural and human‐modified landscapes. The literature also demonstrates that they can operate in concert with each other. Synthesis and applications. Managed ecosystems thought to be important contaminant and nutrient sinks, such as artificial ponds and constructed wetlands, should be monitored and controlled for in‐and‐out animal movement if contaminant export is found to be relevant. Uncontaminated fishing grounds linked to contaminated sites via movement of dispersing species should be monitored and resident species evaluated for health consumption advisories. Assessing the success of contaminated site remediation can be improved by better matching the spatial extent of site remediation and the home range of monitored species. Finally, interagency research fund programmes should be developed that narrow the current gap between the fields of ecology and ecotoxicology.

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Bottom‐up nutrient and top‐down fish impacts on insect‐mediated mercury flux from aquatic ecosystems

Cited by 32 publications

References 48 publications

Mercury bioaccumulation in dragonflies (Odonata: Anisoptera): Examination of life stages and body regions

Mercury bioaccumulation in dragonflies (Odonata: Anisoptera): Examination of life stages and body regions

An environmental problem hidden in plain sight? Small Human‐made ponds, emergent insects, and mercury contamination of biota in the Great Plains

Metacommunities, metaecosystems and the environmental fate of chemical contaminants

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