Cycling and trophic transfer of metals in a changing environment

气候变化、新的采矿项目、亚洲新兴经济体大气沉积的增加以及城市地区新物质的引入将改变加拿大金属的排放、运输、转化和命运，对生态系统健康造成未知的后果。例如，加拿大目前有200个正在考虑的稀土元素采矿项目，从生态毒理学的角度来看，这是一组鲜为人知的金属，而汞(Hg)的排放量预计将在未来几十年大幅上升。我们的长期研究计划侧重于金属在不断变化的环境中对人类暴露的生物地球化学和食物网转移。在过去的6年里，我(共同)监督了58名高素质人员(HQP)；我和我的团队发表了37篇同行评议的论文，并在会议上发表了121次。在接下来的五年里，我们将在我们最近取得的进展的基础上，对与金属生物地球化学有关的新问题进行有针对性的研究。主题1.首先，我们最近的工作表明，水生生物膜可能在北部(未分层的极地解冻池塘)和南部(圣劳伦斯河)形成汞转化的关键地点。我们将确定是什么控制了这些生物膜中的金属络合作用，以及微塑料等新兴污染物如何改变生物膜/金属的相互作用。主题2：大多数污染物的营养转移研究使用N和C的稳定同位素来了解食物网的关系和转移。我们将评估一种基于金属亚细胞分配的补充概念方法，并将其用于单一金属，包括那些紧急关注的金属(即稀土元素)，以及金属的拮抗组合。16名HQP将通过这一跨学科计划接受培训，在生态学、毒理学、基因组学和分析化学的交叉点，为他们明天的就业市场做好准备。该程序将允许更好地预测金属在不断变化的环境中的命运和影响。这将在水生生物膜在金属循环中的作用和涉及金属营养转移的机制方面取得重大的基础性进展。产生的关于稀土转化和营养转移的数据将是加拿大第一个此类数据，并将在该国稀土开采时代的黎明为决策者提供信息。这项关于MP对金属自行车影响的研究很可能是加拿大的第一项研究，将有助于评估与这一新出现的威胁相关的风险。

Climate change, new mining projects, increased atmospheric deposition from emerging Asian economies, and introduction of new substances in urban areas will modify the emission, transport, transformation and fate of metals in Canada, with unknown consequences on ecosystem health. For instance, there are currently 200 mining projects under consideration for rare earth elements (REEs) in Canada, a group of metals little known from an ecotoxicological standpoint, whereas mercury (Hg) emissions are expected to rise considerably in the next decades. Our long-term research plan focuses on the biogeochemistry and food web transfer of metals up to human exposure in changing environment. In the past 6 years, I (co)supervised 58 highly qualified personnel (HQP); my team and I published 37 peer-reviewed papers and presented 121 times at conferences. In the next five years, we will build on our recent advances by conducting targeted studies on emerging issues related to metal biogeochemistry. Theme 1. First, our recent work has suggested that aquatic biofilms may form key sites of transformations of Hg in the North (unstratified polar thaw ponds) and in the south (St. Lawrence River). We will establish what controls metal complexation in these biofilms and how emergent contaminants such as microplastics, can modify biofilm/metal interactions. Theme 2. Most trophic transfer studies of contaminants use stable isotopes of N and C to understand food web relationships and transfer. We will assess a complementary conceptual approach based on subcellular partitioning of metals and use it on single metals, including those of emergent concerns (i.e. REE), and antagonistic combinations of metals. 16 HQP will be trained through this interdisciplinary program, at the intersection of ecology, toxicology, genomics and analytical chemistry, preparing them for the job market of tomorrow. This program will allow to better predict the fate and effect of metals in a changing environment. It will lead to significant fundamental advances regarding the role of aquatic biofilms in metal cycling and the mechanism involved in metal trophic transfer. The data generated on REE transformation and trophic transfer will be the first of this kind in Canada and will inform decision-makers at the dawn of an era of REE mining in this country. The study on the effect of MP on metal cycling will likely be the first in Canada and will help assess risk associated with this emerging threat.