Mercury in Arctic Marine Ecosystems: Sources, Pathways, and Exposure
Mercury in the Arctic is an important environmental and human health issue. The reliance of Northern Peoples on traditional foods, such as marine mammals, for subsistence means that they are particularly at risk from mercury exposure. The cycling of mercury in Arctic marine systems is reviewed here,...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4142812 2023-05-15T14:41:57+02:00 Mercury in Arctic Marine Ecosystems: Sources, Pathways, and Exposure Kirk, Jane L. Lehnherr, Igor Andersson, Maria Braune, Birgit M. Chan, Laurie Dastoor, Ashu P. Durnford, Dorothy Gleason, Amber L. Loseto, Lisa L. Steffen, Alexandra St. Louis, Vincent L. 2012-10-26 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4142812 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23102902 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.012 en eng http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23102902 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.012 © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Article Text 2012 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.012 2014-08-31T00:53:32Z Mercury in the Arctic is an important environmental and human health issue. The reliance of Northern Peoples on traditional foods, such as marine mammals, for subsistence means that they are particularly at risk from mercury exposure. The cycling of mercury in Arctic marine systems is reviewed here, with emphasis placed on the key sources, pathways and processes which regulate mercury levels in marine food webs and ultimately the exposure of human populations to this contaminant. While many knowledge gaps exist limiting our ability to make strong conclusions, it appears that the long range transport of mercury from Asian emissions is an important source of atmospheric Hg to the Arctic and that mercury methylation resulting in monomethylmercury production (an organic form of mercury which is both toxic and bioaccumulated) in Arctic marine waters is the principal source of mercury incorporated into food webs. Mercury concentrations in biological organisms have increased since the onset of the industrial age and are controlled by a combination of abiotic factors (e.g., monomethylmercury supply), food web dynamics and structure, and animal behavior (e.g., habitat selection and feeding behavior). Finally, although some Northern Peoples have high mercury concentrations of mercury in their blood and hair, harvesting and consuming traditional foods has many nutritional, social, cultural and physical health benefits which must be considered in risk management and communication. Text Arctic Human health PubMed Central (PMC) Arctic Environmental Research 119 64 87 |
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Article Kirk, Jane L. Lehnherr, Igor Andersson, Maria Braune, Birgit M. Chan, Laurie Dastoor, Ashu P. Durnford, Dorothy Gleason, Amber L. Loseto, Lisa L. Steffen, Alexandra St. Louis, Vincent L. Mercury in Arctic Marine Ecosystems: Sources, Pathways, and Exposure |
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description |
Mercury in the Arctic is an important environmental and human health issue. The reliance of Northern Peoples on traditional foods, such as marine mammals, for subsistence means that they are particularly at risk from mercury exposure. The cycling of mercury in Arctic marine systems is reviewed here, with emphasis placed on the key sources, pathways and processes which regulate mercury levels in marine food webs and ultimately the exposure of human populations to this contaminant. While many knowledge gaps exist limiting our ability to make strong conclusions, it appears that the long range transport of mercury from Asian emissions is an important source of atmospheric Hg to the Arctic and that mercury methylation resulting in monomethylmercury production (an organic form of mercury which is both toxic and bioaccumulated) in Arctic marine waters is the principal source of mercury incorporated into food webs. Mercury concentrations in biological organisms have increased since the onset of the industrial age and are controlled by a combination of abiotic factors (e.g., monomethylmercury supply), food web dynamics and structure, and animal behavior (e.g., habitat selection and feeding behavior). Finally, although some Northern Peoples have high mercury concentrations of mercury in their blood and hair, harvesting and consuming traditional foods has many nutritional, social, cultural and physical health benefits which must be considered in risk management and communication. |
format |
Text |
author |
Kirk, Jane L. Lehnherr, Igor Andersson, Maria Braune, Birgit M. Chan, Laurie Dastoor, Ashu P. Durnford, Dorothy Gleason, Amber L. Loseto, Lisa L. Steffen, Alexandra St. Louis, Vincent L. |
author_facet |
Kirk, Jane L. Lehnherr, Igor Andersson, Maria Braune, Birgit M. Chan, Laurie Dastoor, Ashu P. Durnford, Dorothy Gleason, Amber L. Loseto, Lisa L. Steffen, Alexandra St. Louis, Vincent L. |
author_sort |
Kirk, Jane L. |
title |
Mercury in Arctic Marine Ecosystems: Sources, Pathways, and Exposure |
title_short |
Mercury in Arctic Marine Ecosystems: Sources, Pathways, and Exposure |
title_full |
Mercury in Arctic Marine Ecosystems: Sources, Pathways, and Exposure |
title_fullStr |
Mercury in Arctic Marine Ecosystems: Sources, Pathways, and Exposure |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mercury in Arctic Marine Ecosystems: Sources, Pathways, and Exposure |
title_sort |
mercury in arctic marine ecosystems: sources, pathways, and exposure |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4142812 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23102902 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.012 |
geographic |
Arctic |
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Arctic |
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Arctic Human health |
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Arctic Human health |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23102902 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.012 |
op_rights |
© 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.012 |
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Environmental Research |
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119 |
container_start_page |
64 |
op_container_end_page |
87 |
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1766313638465896448 |