Subsurface seawater methylmercury maximum explains biotic mercury concentrations in the Canadian Arctic
Loading...
Date
2018-09-27
Authors
Wang, Kang
Munson, Kathleen M.
Beaupré-Laperrière, Alexis
Mucci, Alfonso
Macdonald, Robie W.
Wang, Feiyue
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nature
Abstract
Mercury (Hg) is a contaminant of major concern in Arctic marine ecosystems. Decades of Hg observations in marine biota from across the Canadian Arctic show generally higher concentrations in the west than in the east. Various hypotheses have attributed this longitudinal biotic Hg gradient to regional differences in atmospheric or terrestrial inputs of inorganic Hg, but it is methylmercury (MeHg) that accumulates and biomagnifies in marine biota. Here, we present high-resolution vertical profiles of total Hg and MeHg in seawater along a transect from the Canada Basin, across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) and
Baffin Bay, and into the Labrador Sea. Total Hg concentrations are lower in the western Arctic, opposing the biotic Hg distributions. In contrast, MeHg exhibits a distinctive subsurface maximum at shallow depths of 100–300m, with its peak concentration decreasing eastwards. As this subsurface MeHg maximum lies within the habitat of zooplankton and other lower trophic-level biota, biological uptake of subsurface MeHg and subsequent biomagnification readily explains the biotic Hg concentration gradient. Understanding the risk of MeHg to the Arctic marine ecosystem and Indigenous Peoples will thus require an elucidation of the processes that generate and maintain this subsurface MeHg maximum.
Description
Keywords
methylmercury, Arctic, mercury, marine ecosystem, biomagnification
Citation
Wang, K., Munson, K., Beaupré-Laperrière, A., Mucci, A. Macdonald, R.W., & F. Wang. Subsurface seawater methylmercury maximum explains biotic mercury concentrations in the Canadian Arctic. Sci Rep 8, 14465 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32760-0