Environmental and biological factors are joint drivers of mercury biomagnification in subarctic lake food webs along a climate and productivity gradient
Subarctic lakes are getting warmer and more productive due to the joint effects of climate change and intensive land-use practices (e.g. forest clear-cutting and peatland ditching), processes that potentially increase leaching of peat- and soil-stored mercury into lake ecosystems. We sampled biotic...
Published in: | Science of The Total Environment |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Elsevier Scientific Publ. Co
2021
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10138/330949 |
id |
ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/330949 |
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record_format |
openpolar |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivhelsihelda |
language |
English |
topic |
Climate change Fish Food chain length Invertebrates Land-use Stable isotopes CHARR SALVELINUS-ALPINUS FRESH-WATER TROPHIC POSITION CHAIN STRUCTURE ONTARIO LAKES BIOACCUMULATION METHYLMERCURY WHITEFISH MARINE 1172 Environmental sciences |
spellingShingle |
Climate change Fish Food chain length Invertebrates Land-use Stable isotopes CHARR SALVELINUS-ALPINUS FRESH-WATER TROPHIC POSITION CHAIN STRUCTURE ONTARIO LAKES BIOACCUMULATION METHYLMERCURY WHITEFISH MARINE 1172 Environmental sciences Kozak, Natalia Ahonen, Salla A. Keva, Ossi ostbye, Kjartan Taipale, Sami J. Hayden, Brian Kahilainen, Kimmo K. Environmental and biological factors are joint drivers of mercury biomagnification in subarctic lake food webs along a climate and productivity gradient |
topic_facet |
Climate change Fish Food chain length Invertebrates Land-use Stable isotopes CHARR SALVELINUS-ALPINUS FRESH-WATER TROPHIC POSITION CHAIN STRUCTURE ONTARIO LAKES BIOACCUMULATION METHYLMERCURY WHITEFISH MARINE 1172 Environmental sciences |
description |
Subarctic lakes are getting warmer and more productive due to the joint effects of climate change and intensive land-use practices (e.g. forest clear-cutting and peatland ditching), processes that potentially increase leaching of peat- and soil-stored mercury into lake ecosystems. We sampled biotic communities from primary producers (algae) to top consumers (piscivorous fish), in 19 subarctic lakes situated on a latitudinal (69.0-66.5 degrees N), climatic (+3.2 degrees C temperature and +30% precipitation from north to south) and catchment land-use (pristine to intensive forestry areas) gradient. We first tested how the joint effects of climate and productivity influence mercury biomagnification in food webs focusing on the trophic magnification slope (TMS) and mercury baseline (THg baseline) level, both derived from linear regression between total mercury (log10THg) and organism trophic level (TL). We examined a suite of environmental and biotic variables thought to explain THg baseline and TMS with stepwise generalized multiple regression models. Finally, we assessed how climate and lake productivity affect the THg content of top predators in subarctic lakes. We found biomagnification of mercury in all studied lakes, but with variable TMS and THg baseline values. In stepwise multiple regression models, TMS was best explained by negative relationships with food chain length, climate-productivity gradient, catchment properties, and elemental C:N ratio of the top predator (full model R2 = 0.90, p < 0.001). The model examining variation in THg baseline values included the same variables with positive relationships (R2 = 0.69, p = 0.014). Mass standardized THg content of a common top predator (1 kg northern pike, Esox lucius) increased towards warmer and more productive lakes. Results indicate that increasing eutrophication via forestry-related land-use activities increase the THg levels at the base of the food web and in top predators, suggesting that the sources of nutrients and mercury should be considered in ... |
author2 |
Biological stations Lammi Biological Station Kilpisjärvi Biological Station |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kozak, Natalia Ahonen, Salla A. Keva, Ossi ostbye, Kjartan Taipale, Sami J. Hayden, Brian Kahilainen, Kimmo K. |
author_facet |
Kozak, Natalia Ahonen, Salla A. Keva, Ossi ostbye, Kjartan Taipale, Sami J. Hayden, Brian Kahilainen, Kimmo K. |
author_sort |
Kozak, Natalia |
title |
Environmental and biological factors are joint drivers of mercury biomagnification in subarctic lake food webs along a climate and productivity gradient |
title_short |
Environmental and biological factors are joint drivers of mercury biomagnification in subarctic lake food webs along a climate and productivity gradient |
title_full |
Environmental and biological factors are joint drivers of mercury biomagnification in subarctic lake food webs along a climate and productivity gradient |
title_fullStr |
Environmental and biological factors are joint drivers of mercury biomagnification in subarctic lake food webs along a climate and productivity gradient |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental and biological factors are joint drivers of mercury biomagnification in subarctic lake food webs along a climate and productivity gradient |
title_sort |
environmental and biological factors are joint drivers of mercury biomagnification in subarctic lake food webs along a climate and productivity gradient |
publisher |
Elsevier Scientific Publ. Co |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10138/330949 |
genre |
Salvelinus alpinus Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Salvelinus alpinus Subarctic |
op_relation |
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146261 Wewould like to thank numerous technicians, students, researchers and colleagues involved in collecting samples, performing laboratory analysis and building the database during all these years. Thanks to Kilpisjarvi Biological Station, Muonio Fish Facility and Nuottavaara Village Association, which kindly provided facilities. Funding was received from the Academy of Finland (projects 1140903, 1268566 to KKK), and Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences PhD scholarship for NK. All authors declare no conflict of interest. We thank three anonymous reviewers and editor for their constructive comments. Kozak , N , Ahonen , S A , Keva , O , ostbye , K , Taipale , S J , Hayden , B & Kahilainen , K K 2021 , ' Environmental and biological factors are joint drivers of mercury biomagnification in subarctic lake food webs along a climate and productivity gradient ' , The Science of the Total Environment , vol. 779 , 146261 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146261 ORCID: /0000-0002-1539-014X/work/95495671 e43c9527-9f3a-47df-bcd4-4e55e6f2f1c2 http://hdl.handle.net/10138/330949 000655682300016 |
op_rights |
cc_by openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
779 |
container_start_page |
146261 |
_version_ |
1787428121292570624 |
spelling |
ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/330949 2024-01-07T09:46:21+01:00 Environmental and biological factors are joint drivers of mercury biomagnification in subarctic lake food webs along a climate and productivity gradient Kozak, Natalia Ahonen, Salla A. Keva, Ossi ostbye, Kjartan Taipale, Sami J. Hayden, Brian Kahilainen, Kimmo K. Biological stations Lammi Biological Station Kilpisjärvi Biological Station 2021-06-14T14:27:01Z 11 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10138/330949 eng eng Elsevier Scientific Publ. Co 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146261 Wewould like to thank numerous technicians, students, researchers and colleagues involved in collecting samples, performing laboratory analysis and building the database during all these years. Thanks to Kilpisjarvi Biological Station, Muonio Fish Facility and Nuottavaara Village Association, which kindly provided facilities. Funding was received from the Academy of Finland (projects 1140903, 1268566 to KKK), and Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences PhD scholarship for NK. All authors declare no conflict of interest. We thank three anonymous reviewers and editor for their constructive comments. Kozak , N , Ahonen , S A , Keva , O , ostbye , K , Taipale , S J , Hayden , B & Kahilainen , K K 2021 , ' Environmental and biological factors are joint drivers of mercury biomagnification in subarctic lake food webs along a climate and productivity gradient ' , The Science of the Total Environment , vol. 779 , 146261 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146261 ORCID: /0000-0002-1539-014X/work/95495671 e43c9527-9f3a-47df-bcd4-4e55e6f2f1c2 http://hdl.handle.net/10138/330949 000655682300016 cc_by openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Climate change Fish Food chain length Invertebrates Land-use Stable isotopes CHARR SALVELINUS-ALPINUS FRESH-WATER TROPHIC POSITION CHAIN STRUCTURE ONTARIO LAKES BIOACCUMULATION METHYLMERCURY WHITEFISH MARINE 1172 Environmental sciences Article publishedVersion 2021 ftunivhelsihelda 2023-12-14T00:01:55Z Subarctic lakes are getting warmer and more productive due to the joint effects of climate change and intensive land-use practices (e.g. forest clear-cutting and peatland ditching), processes that potentially increase leaching of peat- and soil-stored mercury into lake ecosystems. We sampled biotic communities from primary producers (algae) to top consumers (piscivorous fish), in 19 subarctic lakes situated on a latitudinal (69.0-66.5 degrees N), climatic (+3.2 degrees C temperature and +30% precipitation from north to south) and catchment land-use (pristine to intensive forestry areas) gradient. We first tested how the joint effects of climate and productivity influence mercury biomagnification in food webs focusing on the trophic magnification slope (TMS) and mercury baseline (THg baseline) level, both derived from linear regression between total mercury (log10THg) and organism trophic level (TL). We examined a suite of environmental and biotic variables thought to explain THg baseline and TMS with stepwise generalized multiple regression models. Finally, we assessed how climate and lake productivity affect the THg content of top predators in subarctic lakes. We found biomagnification of mercury in all studied lakes, but with variable TMS and THg baseline values. In stepwise multiple regression models, TMS was best explained by negative relationships with food chain length, climate-productivity gradient, catchment properties, and elemental C:N ratio of the top predator (full model R2 = 0.90, p < 0.001). The model examining variation in THg baseline values included the same variables with positive relationships (R2 = 0.69, p = 0.014). Mass standardized THg content of a common top predator (1 kg northern pike, Esox lucius) increased towards warmer and more productive lakes. Results indicate that increasing eutrophication via forestry-related land-use activities increase the THg levels at the base of the food web and in top predators, suggesting that the sources of nutrients and mercury should be considered in ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Salvelinus alpinus Subarctic HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository Science of The Total Environment 779 146261 |