Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

Experimental evidence for recovery of mercury-contaminated fish populations

Journal Article · · Nature (London)
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [2];  [2];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [12];  [5];  [2];  [13];  [14];  [15];  [3] more »;  [2];  [3];  [14];  [8];  [2];  [13] « less
  1. Freshwater Institute, Winnipeg, MB (Canada). Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Queen's Univ., Kingston, ON (Canada); IISD Experimental Lakes Area, Winnipeg, MB (Canada)
  2. Freshwater Institute, Winnipeg, MB (Canada). Fisheries and Oceans Canada
  3. Freshwater Institute, Winnipeg, MB (Canada). Fisheries and Oceans Canada; IISD Experimental Lakes Area, Winnipeg, MB (Canada)
  4. Univ. of Montreal, QC (Canada)
  5. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
  6. Univ. of Western Ontario, London, ON (Canada)
  7. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD (United States)
  8. Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB (Canada)
  9. Univ. of Regina, SK (Canada)
  10. Reed Harris Environmental, Oakville, ON (Canada)
  11. Univ. of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Solomons, MD (United States)
  12. Trent Univ., Peterborough, ON (Canada)
  13. US Geological Survey, Middleton, WI (United States)
  14. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  15. Univ. of Connecticut, Groton, CT (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Anthropogenic releases of mercury (Hg) are a human health issue because the potent toxicant methylmercury (MeHg), formed primarily by microbial methylation of inorganic Hg in aquatic ecosystems, bioaccumulates to high concentrations in fish consumed by humans. Predicting the efficacy of Hg pollution controls on fish MeHg concentrations is complex because many factors influence the production and bioaccumulation of MeHg. Here we conducted a 15-year whole-ecosystem, single-factor experiment to determine the magnitude and timing of reductions in fish MeHg concentrations following reductions in Hg additions to a boreal lake and its watershed. During the seven-year addition phase, we applied enriched Hg isotopes to increase local Hg wet deposition rates fivefold. The Hg isotopes became increasingly incorporated into the food web as MeHg, predominantly from additions to the lake because most of those in the watershed remained there. Thereafter, isotopic additions were stopped, resulting in an approximately 100% reduction in Hg loading to the lake. The concentration of labelled MeHg quickly decreased by up to 91% in lower trophic level organisms, initiating rapid decreases of 38–76% of MeHg concentration in large-bodied fish populations in eight years. Although Hg loading from watersheds may not decline in step with lowering deposition rates, this experiment clearly demonstrates that any reduction in Hg loadings to lakes, whether from direct deposition or runoff, will have immediate benefits to fish consumers.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; Electric Power Research Institute; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; National Science Foundation (NSF); Southern Company; University of Alberta; USEPA; Wisconsin Focus on Enregy
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1843680
Journal Information:
Nature (London), Journal Name: Nature (London) Journal Issue: 7891 Vol. 601; ISSN 0028-0836
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (41)

Experimental evidence for the recovery of mercury-contaminated fish populations dataset January 2021
Modulators of mercury risk to wildlife and humans in the context of rapid global change journal January 2018
Determination of mercury methylation potentials in the water column of lakes across Canada journal September 2006
A Critical Time for Mercury Science to Inform Global Policy journal August 2018
Atmospheric Concentrations and Wet/Dry Loadings of Mercury at the Remote Experimental Lakes Area, Northwestern Ontario, Canada journal June 2019
Determination of Stable Mercury Isotopes by ICP/MS and Their Application in Environmental Studies book October 2002
Elimination of Mercury by Yellow Perch in the Wild journal July 2007
Dietary and Waterborne Mercury Accumulation by Yellow Perch: A Field Experiment journal December 2011
Mercury Elimination by a Top Predator, Esox lucius journal April 2013
Mercury as a Global Pollutant: Sources, Pathways, and Effects journal May 2013
Mercury Biomagnification through Food Webs Is Affected by Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Lakes journal October 2013
Biomagnification of Mercury in Aquatic Food Webs: A Worldwide Meta-Analysis journal November 2013
Fate and Transport of Ambient Mercury and Applied Mercury Isotope in Terrestrial Upland Soils: Insights from the METAALICUS Watershed journal January 2014
The Case for Atmospheric Mercury Contamination in Remote Areas journal January 1998
Food as the Dominant Pathway of Methylmercury Uptake by Fish journal November 1997
The role of terrestrial vegetation in atmospheric Hg deposition: Pools and fluxes of spike and ambient Hg from the METAALICUS experiment: VEGETATION DELAYS TRANSPORT OF MERCURY journal March 2012
Stable isotope evidence for the food web consequences of species invasions in lakes journal September 1999
Climate change and overfishing increase neurotoxicant in marine predators journal August 2019
Forest fire increases mercury accumulation by fishes via food web restructuring and increased mercury inputs journal December 2006
Whole-ecosystem study shows rapid fish-mercury response to changes in mercury deposition journal September 2007
Behavioral responses to annual temperature variation alter the dominant energy pathway, growth, and condition of a cold-water predator journal August 2017
Mercury source changes and food web shifts alter contamination signatures of predatory fish from Lake Michigan journal November 2019
Five hundred years of anthropogenic mercury: spatial and temporal release profiles journal July 2019
Individual variation and interactions explain food web responses to global warming journal November 2020
Global Change and Mercury journal September 2013
Johnson and Vallentyne’s legacy: 40 years of aquatic research at the Experimental Lakes Area
  • Blanchfield, Paul J.; Paterson, Michael J.; Shearer, John A.
  • Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Vol. 66, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1139/F09-148
journal November 2009
An overview of mercury concentrations in freshwater fish species: a national fish mercury dataset for Canada journal March 2013
Bioaccumulation of newly deposited mercury by fish and invertebrates: an enclosure study using stable mercury isotopes
  • Paterson, Michael J.; Blanchfield, Paul J.; Podemski, Cheryl
  • Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Vol. 63, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1139/f06-118
journal October 2006
Comparison of Fin-Ray and Scale Age Determinations for Lake Whitefish ( Coregonus clupeaformis ) and Their Implications for Estimates of Growth and Annual Survival journal March 1980
Time to refine mercury mass balance models for fish journal January 2021
Decadal Changes in the Edible Supply of Seafood and Methylmercury Exposure in the United States journal January 2018
Effects of Preservatives on Weights of Some Common Macrobenthic Invertebrates journal October 1972
Evaluation of Nonlethal Methods for the Analysis of Mercury in Fish Tissue journal May 2004
Recovery of Mercury-Contaminated Fisheries journal February 2007
Methylmercury Exposure and Health Effects in Humans: A Worldwide Concern journal February 2007
Application of Ecosystem-Scale fate and Bioaccumulation Models to Predict fish Mercury Response Times to Changes in Atmospheric Deposition journal January 2009
Fishes as Integrators of Benthic and Pelagic Food Webs in Lakes journal August 2002
Simultaneous measurement of primary production by whole-lake and bottle radiocarbon additions1: Whole-lake 14C experiment journal March 1987
Fluxes of methylmercury to the water column of a drainage lake: The relative importance of internal and external sources journal April 2001
Evidence for facilitated uptake of Hg(II) by Vibrio anguillarum and Escherichia coli under anaerobic and aerobic conditions journal July 2002
Fishes as Integrators of Benthic and Pelagic food webs in Lakes collection January 2016

Cited By (2)

Experimental evidence for the recovery of mercury-contaminated fish populations dataset January 2021
Improved estimates of age, growth and reproduction for the regionally endemic Galapagos sailfin grouperMycteroperca olfax(Jenyns, 1840) journal September 2015

Similar Records

Mercury concentration in fish from the Upper Madeira River, Brazil -- 1991 and 1993
Conference · Sat Dec 30 23:00:00 EST 1995 · OSTI ID:242383
The effects of a stannous chloride-based water treatment system in a mercury contaminated stream
Journal Article · Tue Jun 09 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Chemosphere · OSTI ID:1185420
Reducing methylmercury accumulation in the food webs of San Francisco Bay and its local watersheds
Journal Article · Wed Nov 14 23:00:00 EST 2012 · Environmental Research · OSTI ID:22157097

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
boreal ecology
ecosystem ecology
environmental impact
freshwater ecology