Predicting Mercury Retention and Bioaccumulation in Aquatic Ecosystems

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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. With a changing climate and a predicted rise in global atmospheric mercury emissions over the next decade (e.g., 20% by 2020), mercury will continue to be a problem contaminant for the foreseeable future, causing particular damage to organisms in mercury-sensitive ecosystems worldwide. The proposed work within my NSERC-funded research program will have regional, national, and international importance, as it will provide practical measures to identify mercury-sensitive ecosystems. This will aid the development of national and global mercury policy (e.g., the Canadian Mercury Science Assessment and the proposed UNEP global mercury treaty) and risk management strategies, which will benefit the health of Canadians and the ecosystems on which they rely.