Permafrost Thaw Increases Methylmercury Formation in Subarctic Fennoscandia
[Image: see text] Methylmercury (MeHg) forms in anoxic environments and can bioaccumulate and biomagnify in aquatic food webs to concentrations of concern for human and wildlife health. Mercury (Hg) pollution in the Arctic environment may worsen as these areas warm and Hg, currently locked in permaf...
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Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8277125/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33902281 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c04108 |
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:8277125 2023-05-15T15:05:58+02:00 Permafrost Thaw Increases Methylmercury Formation in Subarctic Fennoscandia Tarbier, Brittany Hugelius, Gustaf Kristina Sannel, Anna Britta Baptista-Salazar, Carluvy Jonsson, Sofi 2021-04-27 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8277125/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33902281 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c04108 en eng American Chemical Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8277125/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33902281 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c04108 © 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society Permits the broadest form of re-use including for commercial purposes, provided that author attribution and integrity are maintained (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). CC-BY Environ Sci Technol Text 2021 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c04108 2021-07-18T00:42:54Z [Image: see text] Methylmercury (MeHg) forms in anoxic environments and can bioaccumulate and biomagnify in aquatic food webs to concentrations of concern for human and wildlife health. Mercury (Hg) pollution in the Arctic environment may worsen as these areas warm and Hg, currently locked in permafrost soils, is remobilized. One of the main concerns is the development of Hg methylation hotspots in the terrestrial environment due to thermokarst formation. The extent to which net methylation of Hg is enhanced upon thaw is, however, largely unknown. Here, we have studied the formation of Hg methylation hotspots using existing thaw gradients at five Fennoscandian permafrost peatland sites. Total Hg (HgT) and MeHg concentrations were analyzed in 178 soil samples from 14 peat cores. We observed 10 times higher concentrations of MeHg and 13 times higher %MeHg in the collapse fen (representing thawed conditions) as compared to the peat plateau (representing frozen conditions). This suggests significantly greater net methylation of Hg when thermokarst wetlands are formed. In addition, we report HgT to soil organic carbon ratios representative of Fennoscandian permafrost peatlands (median and interquartile range of 0.09 ± 0.07 μg HgT g(–1) C) that are of value for future estimates of circumpolar HgT stocks. Text Arctic Fennoscandia Fennoscandian Peat Peat plateau permafrost Subarctic Thermokarst PubMed Central (PMC) Arctic Environmental Science & Technology 55 10 6710 6717 |
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PubMed Central (PMC) |
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English |
description |
[Image: see text] Methylmercury (MeHg) forms in anoxic environments and can bioaccumulate and biomagnify in aquatic food webs to concentrations of concern for human and wildlife health. Mercury (Hg) pollution in the Arctic environment may worsen as these areas warm and Hg, currently locked in permafrost soils, is remobilized. One of the main concerns is the development of Hg methylation hotspots in the terrestrial environment due to thermokarst formation. The extent to which net methylation of Hg is enhanced upon thaw is, however, largely unknown. Here, we have studied the formation of Hg methylation hotspots using existing thaw gradients at five Fennoscandian permafrost peatland sites. Total Hg (HgT) and MeHg concentrations were analyzed in 178 soil samples from 14 peat cores. We observed 10 times higher concentrations of MeHg and 13 times higher %MeHg in the collapse fen (representing thawed conditions) as compared to the peat plateau (representing frozen conditions). This suggests significantly greater net methylation of Hg when thermokarst wetlands are formed. In addition, we report HgT to soil organic carbon ratios representative of Fennoscandian permafrost peatlands (median and interquartile range of 0.09 ± 0.07 μg HgT g(–1) C) that are of value for future estimates of circumpolar HgT stocks. |
format |
Text |
author |
Tarbier, Brittany Hugelius, Gustaf Kristina Sannel, Anna Britta Baptista-Salazar, Carluvy Jonsson, Sofi |
spellingShingle |
Tarbier, Brittany Hugelius, Gustaf Kristina Sannel, Anna Britta Baptista-Salazar, Carluvy Jonsson, Sofi Permafrost Thaw Increases Methylmercury Formation in Subarctic Fennoscandia |
author_facet |
Tarbier, Brittany Hugelius, Gustaf Kristina Sannel, Anna Britta Baptista-Salazar, Carluvy Jonsson, Sofi |
author_sort |
Tarbier, Brittany |
title |
Permafrost Thaw Increases Methylmercury Formation in Subarctic Fennoscandia |
title_short |
Permafrost Thaw Increases Methylmercury Formation in Subarctic Fennoscandia |
title_full |
Permafrost Thaw Increases Methylmercury Formation in Subarctic Fennoscandia |
title_fullStr |
Permafrost Thaw Increases Methylmercury Formation in Subarctic Fennoscandia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Permafrost Thaw Increases Methylmercury Formation in Subarctic Fennoscandia |
title_sort |
permafrost thaw increases methylmercury formation in subarctic fennoscandia |
publisher |
American Chemical Society |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8277125/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33902281 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c04108 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Fennoscandia Fennoscandian Peat Peat plateau permafrost Subarctic Thermokarst |
genre_facet |
Arctic Fennoscandia Fennoscandian Peat Peat plateau permafrost Subarctic Thermokarst |
op_source |
Environ Sci Technol |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8277125/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33902281 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c04108 |
op_rights |
© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society Permits the broadest form of re-use including for commercial purposes, provided that author attribution and integrity are maintained (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c04108 |
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Environmental Science & Technology |
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55 |
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10 |
container_start_page |
6710 |
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6717 |
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1766337642122706944 |