Mercury Contamination of Fish and Its Implications for Other Wildlife of the Tapajós Basin, Brazilian Amazon
Mercury Contamination of Fish and Its Implications for Other Wildlife of the Tapajós Basin, Brazilian Amazon
复制标题
巴西亚马逊塔帕若斯盆地的鱼类汞污染及其对其他野生动物的影响
DOI：
10.1046/j.1523-1739.2001.015002438.x
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发表时间：
2001
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
D. Cleary
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Y. Uryu;O. Malm;I. Thornton;I. Payne;D. Cleary
翻译后摘要：自1979年以来，在巴西亚马逊的淘金热造成了严重的环境破坏，地球上最复杂的生态系统之一。主要由于汞对人体的毒性，这一问题受到了公众的广泛关注，并引发了许多研究。虽然这些研究涉及鱼类取样，但汞污染对鱼类本身和其他野生动物的负面影响在很大程度上被忽视了。为了评估目前鱼类汞污染的水平及其对鱼类和其他动物的影响，我们收集并检查了1991年至1996年期间巴西亚马逊河流域鱼类汞浓度的数据，特别是塔帕霍斯流域的数据。我们的结论是，生活在Tapajós盆地金矿区附近的杂食动物和食鱼动物已经处于汞中毒的高风险中，特别是生殖失败。这些鱼体内的汞浓度也高到足以对高营养水平的动物产生有害影响。同样的结论也适用于巴西亚马逊地区的其他汞污染地区。由于大多数亚马逊河或其支流都有汞污染的有利条件，我们可以预期这个问题将在亚马逊河中持续很长一段时间，其后果很可能在未来变得更加严重。这些结论对所有热带雨林都有重要意义，因为金矿开采作业已经造成了广泛的汞污染。
Abstract: Since 1979 the gold rush in the Brazilian Amazon has caused serious environmental damage to one of the most complex ecosystems on Earth. Mainly due to the toxicity of mercury to humans, this problem has received wide public attention and prompted many studies. Although these studies have involved sampling of fish, the negative effect of mercury contamination to fish themselves and other wildlife has been largely ignored. To assess the present level of mercury contamination of fish, and its implication for fish and other animals, we collected and examined data on mercury concentration in fish of the Brazilian Amazon, especially for the Tapajós basin, between 1991 and 1996. We conclude that omnivores and piscivores that live nearer to gold mining areas in the Tapajós basin are already at high risk of mercury toxification, especially reproductive failure. Mercury concentrations in these fish are also high enough to have detrimental effects on animals at higher trophic levels. The same conclusion applies to other mercury‐contaminated areas in the Brazilian Amazon. Because most Amazonian rivers or their tributaries have favorable conditions for mercury contamination, we can expect the problem to persist in the Amazon for a long time, and the consequences are likely to become more significant in the future. These conclusions have important implications for all tropical rainforests where gold mining operations have caused extensive mercury pollution.