Legacy source of mercury in an urban stream–wetland ecosystem in central North Carolina, USA

Deonarine, Amrika; Hsu‐Kim, Heileen; Zhang, Tong; Cai, Yong; Richardson, Curtis J.

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2014.12.038

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Slurries made from these samples were designated the “mesohaline” microcosm for this study. The second site is a small (approximately 8000 m 2 ) retention pond of Sandy Creek (Durham, North Carolina, USA), a freshwater stream located in an urbanized watershed and known to receive moderate amounts of legacy Hg, possibly originating from historical application of turf grass pesticides in upland areas . The sediments (49.6 ± 6 ng g –1 Hg dry weight basis) were collected by hand from the edge of this pond and were used for the “freshwater” slurry microcosms within 2 days of collection on 3 rd March 2017.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of Mercury Bioavailability for Methylation Using Diffusive Gradient in Thin-Film Samplers

Ndu

Christensen

Rivera

et al. 2018

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Mercury-contaminated sediment and water contain various Hg species, with a small fraction available for microbial conversion to the bioaccumulative neurotoxin monomethylmercury (MeHg). Quantification of this available Hg pool is needed to prioritize sites for risk management. This study compared the efficacy of diffusive gradient in thin-film (DGT) passive samplers to a thiol-based selective extraction method with glutathione (GSH) and conventional filtration (<0.2 μm) as indicators of Hg bioavailability. Anaerobic sediment slurry microcosms were amended with isotopically labeled inorganic Hg “endmembers” (dissolved Hg2+, Hg-humic acid, Hg-sorbed to FeS, HgS nanoparticles) with a known range of bioavailability and methylation potentials. Net MeHg production (expressed as percent of total Hg as MeHg) over 1 week correlated with mass accumulation of Hg endmembers on the DGTs and only sometimes correlated with the 0.2 μm filter passing Hg fraction and the GSH-extractable Hg fraction. These results suggest for the first time that inorganic Hg uptake in DGTs may indicate bioavailability for methylating microbes. Moreover, the methylating microbial community assessed by hgcA gene abundance was not always consistent with methylation rates between the experiments, indicating that knowledge of the methylating community should target the transcript or protein level. Altogether, these results suggest that DGTs could be used to quantify the bioavailable Hg fraction as part of a method to assess net MeHg production potential in the environment.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of Mercury Bioavailability for Methylation Using Diffusive Gradient in Thin-Film Samplers

Ndu

Christensen

Rivera

et al. 2018

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…Urban areas cover a relatively small percentage of the Earth’s surface, but are home to more than half of the world’s population and often include some commercial and subsistence fishing in adjoining and downstream waterways (Murkin et al 2003 ; Liu et al 2014 ). Compared to rural/natural areas, concentrations of Hg have been shown to be elevated in urban air (Lindberg et al 2007 ; Kim et al 2009 ; Wip et al 2013 ; Fu et al 2015 ), soil/street dust (Manta et al 2002 ; Ordonez et al 2003 ; Eckley and Branfireun 2008a ; Huang et al 2012 ; Rodrigues et al 2014 ), and waterbodies (Mason and Sullivan 1998 ; Rice 1999 ; Lawson et al 2001 ; Clark and Benoit 2009 ; Barringer et al 2010 ; Rowland et al 2010 ; Tong et al 2013 ; Deonarine et al 2015 ; McKee and Gilbreath 2015 ). The level of Hg contamination in different urban areas can vary by over an order of magnitude, depending on the presence of current and historical industrial activities as well as local geographic and meteorological variables.…”

Section: Urbanizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and opportunities for managing aquatic mercury pollution in altered landscapes

Hsu‐Kim

Eckley

Achá

et al. 2018

Ambio

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The environmental cycling of mercury (Hg) can be affected by natural and anthropogenic perturbations. Of particular concern is how these disruptions increase mobilization of Hg from sites and alter the formation of monomethylmercury (MeHg), a bioaccumulative form of Hg for humans and wildlife. The scientific community has made significant advances in recent years in understanding the processes contributing to the risk of MeHg in the environment. The objective of this paper is to synthesize the scientific understanding of how Hg cycling in the aquatic environment is influenced by landscape perturbations at the local scale, perturbations that include watershed loadings, deforestation, reservoir and wetland creation, rice production, urbanization, mining and industrial point source pollution, and remediation. We focus on the major challenges associated with each type of alteration, as well as management opportunities that could lessen both MeHg levels in biota and exposure to humans. For example, our understanding of approximate response times to changes in Hg inputs from various sources or landscape alterations could lead to policies that prioritize the avoidance of certain activities in the most vulnerable systems and sequestration of Hg in deep soil and sediment pools. The remediation of Hg pollution from historical mining and other industries is shifting towards in situ technologies that could be less disruptive and less costly than conventional approaches. Contemporary artisanal gold mining has well-documented impacts with respect to Hg; however, significant social and political challenges remain in implementing effective policies to minimize Hg use. Much remains to be learned as we strive towards the meaningful application of our understanding for stakeholders, including communities living near Hg-polluted sites, environmental policy makers, and scientists and engineers tasked with developing watershed management solutions. Site-specific assessments of MeHg exposure risk will require new methods to predict the impacts of anthropogenic perturbations and an understanding of the complexity of Hg cycling at the local scale.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-017-1006-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Stormwater runoff is more associated with nonpoint contaminant sources and can be responsible for the transport of diverse groups of contaminants including nutrients, bacteria, metals, microplastics, and organic contaminants to streams during runoff events [4][5][6][7]. Legacy contamination and wet and dry atmospheric deposition, though less important, have also been associated with urban stream contamination for metals and organic pollutants [8][9][10][11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traffic-related sources may dominate urban water contamination for many organic contaminants

Awonaike

Parajulee

Lei

et al. 2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Urban runoff and wastewater/sewage input are majorly responsible for the contamination of urban streams. In streams where wastewater input is not a considerable input, the importance of urban runoff as a mechanism of contaminant transport and delivery from urban surfaces to receiving waters is even more apparent. Extensive studies on two such streams in Southern Ontario, Canada yielded data on the occurrence and levels of multiple contaminant groups (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and quinones, benzotriazoles, benzotriazole ultraviolet stabilizers, organophosphate esters, herbicides) and the influence of factors such as temperature, rainfall characteristics, and land use. Here, we collectively examined the data from these studies to identify any trends and further insights. Using concentration-discharge relationships, we found that the transport dynamics of many particle-bound compounds are strikingly similar to each other, and to that of suspended solids in which they were quantified; suggesting a single, predominant source. Similar urban to rural ratios across compound groups and strong correlations with road density further support the existence of a dominant source and point to traffic as this source, respectively. Although road traffic had not previously been implicated as a major source of many of the investigated compound groups, their uses suggest that traffic-related sources are very plausible. Overall, this work highlights that traffic is a major source of a surprisingly wide array of organic contaminants to urban surfaces, and subsequently to nearby streams.

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Legacy source of mercury in an urban stream–wetland ecosystem in central North Carolina, USA

Cited by 10 publications

References 25 publications

Quantification of Mercury Bioavailability for Methylation Using Diffusive Gradient in Thin-Film Samplers

Quantification of Mercury Bioavailability for Methylation Using Diffusive Gradient in Thin-Film Samplers

Challenges and opportunities for managing aquatic mercury pollution in altered landscapes

Traffic-related sources may dominate urban water contamination for many organic contaminants

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