Century-old mercury pollution: Evaluating the impacts on local fish from the eastern United States

Anatone, Kayla; Baumann, Zofia; Hansen, G.; Chernoff, Barry

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.127484

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 115 publications

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“…Correlations between water column trace element concentrations and those in fish in other studies are variable (Anatone et al 2020;Cianciolo et al 2020;Donadt et al 2021). Bioavailability of a trace element is partially dependent on the state it occurs in.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Biological Factors Moderate Trace Element Accumulation in Fish along an Environmental Concentration Gradient

Donadt

Cooke

Graydon

et al. 2020

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Trace elements can accumulate in aquatic food webs, becoming potentially hazardous to wildlife and human health. Whereas many studies have examined mercury dynamics in freshwater environments, evidence for the bioaccumulative potential of other trace elements (e.g., arsenic) is conflicting. Trace element concentrations found in surface water of the Red Deer River, Alberta, Canada, have raised concern for potential accumulation in aquatic biota. We investigated fish from this river to better understand the influence of biological and environmental factors in trace element bioaccumulation. We analyzed 20 trace elements, and stable nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) isotopes, in the muscle tissue of 8 species. Zinc, selenium, arsenic, chromium, and nickel were detected in the majority of fish at low concentrations. However, mercury was detected in all fish and often exceeded criteria for the protection of consumers. Body size was often positively correlated with trace element concentrations. In addition, δ15N and δ13C were correlated to mercury and arsenic concentrations, indicating that mercury biomagnifies whereas arsenic biodiminishes. Spatial patterns of fish trace element concentrations did not reflect differences in surface water concentrations. These findings indicate that fish trace element concentrations are primarily moderated by biological factors, such as trophic position and body size, and are not locally restricted to areas of relatively high environmental concentrations in the Red Deer River. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;40:422–434. © 2020 SETAC

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Biological Factors Moderate Trace Element Accumulation in Fish along an Environmental Concentration Gradient

Donadt

Cooke

Graydon

et al. 2020

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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“…Lawrence River Valley region (Wiklund et al 2017; Kerfoot et al 2018). While legacy Hg (re)emissions have been found to be associated with higher contemporary total Hg concentrations in lake sediments, they are not necessarily linked to greater MeHg concentrations, possibly due to lesser bioavailability (Anatone et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hg is accumulated at higher rates in lakes with higher contemporary Hg atmospheric deposition rates, but also in the eastern provinces, possibly as a consequence of regional legacy pollution due to the industrial history of the northeastern US and the lower Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Valley region (Wiklund et al 2017;Kerfoot et al 2018). While legacy Hg (re) emissions have been found to be associated with higher contemporary total Hg concentrations in lake sediments, they are not necessarily linked to greater MeHg concentrations, possibly due to lesser bioavailability (Anatone et al 2020).…”

Section: Descriptive Models Mar and Nutrientsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic matter, eutrophication, and increased mass accumulation rates in the Anthropocene are the main drivers of mercury concentrations and historical enrichment in Canadian lake sediments

Beaulieu,

Amyot,

Griffiths

et al. 2024

Limnology & Oceanography

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Mercury (Hg) contamination in the environment is a persistent issue as emissions from industry are ongoing and legacy cycling is prolonged. To quantify total mercury (total Hg) and methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations in lake sediments across a wide suite of temperate to subarctic lakes, measurements and modeling were conducted for 320 sites across Canada. Total Hg varied from 7 to 567 ng g−1 dry sediment with a mean (median) value of 148 (128) ng g−1 dry sediment, with lowest concentrations observed in eutrophic lakes of the Prairies and Boreal Plains. Average total Hg concentrations have increased twofold in contemporary sediments relative to their preindustrial pair. MeHg concentrations were generally low, with a mean of 0.8 ng g−1 dry sediment and this form representing on average 0.6% of the total contemporary mercury concentrations. Water column variables related to eutrophication were among the strongest predictors of contemporary total Hg, MeHg, and total Hg enrichment in the sediments. In lakes where sediment radiometric data were collected, contemporary total Hg accumulation rates were strongly related to longitude(+) and Hg atmospheric deposition(+). Latitude(−) and Hg atmospheric deposition(+) were the best predictors of MeHg accumulation rates. Chromophoric dissolved organic matter optical properties were key predictors of both total Hg concentrations and accumulation rates. Our work highlights the paramount importance of lake trophic state and the nature of organic matter as key predictors of lake sediment mercury metrics.

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“…A more geographical diverse global effort is required to be able to correlate the data on Hg from historical and natural archives. The environmental impact of legacy Hg from hat making in Connecticut (US) has already been recognized ( 61 , 62 ), but further work is needed for all alternate Hg industrial hotspots not related to Ag/Au/Hg production, such as Danbury and Norwalk (US), Paris (France), London (U.K.) for felt production, New York (US), Amsterdam (Holland), and unspecified locations in China for vermilion, among others.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The global roots of pre-1900 legacy mercury

Guerrero

Schneider

2023

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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During the nineteenth century, a major change took place in the trade, production, and use of mercury that altered its nearly exclusive link to silver refining in the Hispanic New World. We track the global expansion of mercury markets in chronological detail from 1511 to 1900 using historical archives on production and trade, a detailed country-by-country accounting of the pool of anthropogenic mercury from which legacy mercury was ultimately generated. The nature and profile of pre-1900 legacy mercury extends beyond silver refining, mercury production, and gold extraction, and includes alternate sources (vermilion, felt, mercury fulminate) and new regions that were not major silver or gold producers (China, India, United Kingdom, France, among others), that accounted for approximately 50% of total mercury consumed in the nineteenth century. The nature of the pre-1900 mercury market requires a quantitative distinction between legacy mercury and historic anthropogenic mercury production and use, since the chemistry of its end-uses determines the pathways and timelines for its incorporation into the global biogeochemical cycle. We thus introduce the concept of a mercury source pool to account for total historic anthropogenic mercury within and outside this cycle. Together with a critical review of previous assumptions used to reconstruct the historical use and loss of mercury, a much lower level of emissions of pre-1900 legacy mercury is proposed. A coordinated effort across disciplines is needed, to complete a historically accurate scenario that can guide the multilateral policies adopted under the United Nations Minamata Convention to control mercury in the environment.

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Century-old mercury pollution: Evaluating the impacts on local fish from the eastern United States

Cited by 10 publications

References 115 publications

Biological Factors Moderate Trace Element Accumulation in Fish along an Environmental Concentration Gradient

Biological Factors Moderate Trace Element Accumulation in Fish along an Environmental Concentration Gradient

Organic matter, eutrophication, and increased mass accumulation rates in the Anthropocene are the main drivers of mercury concentrations and historical enrichment in Canadian lake sediments

The global roots of pre-1900 legacy mercury

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