Predicting Mercury Retention and Bioaccumulation in Aquatic Ecosystems

汞是一种分散在全球的污染物，在受工业影响的和偏远地区的水生生物中积累到有害的水平。随着气候变化对水生生态系统中汞保留量的预测是一个关键的知识空白。我提议的NSERC资助的研究项目的长期目标是预测水生生态系统将保留汞，从而导致受污染的食物网。我的研究计划将通过检查两个关键的生物地球化学过程来实现这一点：汞在生态系统中的保留；以及甲基汞的生产及其在食物链中的生物有效性。我的团队新开发的方法将允许定量测量汞的保留量和生物利用度，以及随着时间的推移影响它们的因素。这将有助于更好地了解生态系统对汞输入的敏感性，并有助于查明和管理有污染风险的偏远生态系统。我提议的研究计划将为预测这些汞敏感生态系统提供必要的工具，从而减轻对食物网的影响。

Mercury is a globally dispersed contaminant that bioaccumulates to harmful levels in aquatic organisms in both industrially impacted and remote locations. The prediction of mercury retention in aquatic ecosystems with changes in climate is a key knowledge gap. The long-term goal of my proposed NSERC-funded research program is the prediction of aquatic ecosystems that will retain mercury, resulting in contaminated food webs. My research program will achieve this through an examination of two critical biogeochemical processes: mercury retention in ecosystems; and methyl mercury production and its bioavailability to the food web. My group's newly developed methodologies will allow quantitative measurements of mercury retention and bioavailability and factors that affect them over time. This will lead to a better understanding of the sensitivity of ecosystems to mercury inputs and will facilitate the identification and management of remote ecosystems at risk of contamination. My proposed research program will provide necessary tools for predicting these mercury-sensitive ecosystems, such that food-web impacts can be mitigated.