Mercury in cetaceans:exposure, bioaccumulation and toxicity
The fate and transportation of mercury in the marine environment are driven by a combination of anthropogenic atmospheric and aquatic sources, as well as natural geological inputs. Mercury biomagnifies up the food chain, resulting in the bioaccumulation of toxic concentrations in higher trophic orga...
Published in: | Science of The Total Environment |
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2019
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Online Access: | https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/mercury-in-cetaceans(ea24c784-ffec-4170-914f-9e4cf118a49d).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133683 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/20371/1/Revised_Manuscript_Mercury_in_Cetaceans_v1.1.pdf |
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ftunstandrewcris:oai:research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk:publications/ea24c784-ffec-4170-914f-9e4cf118a49d 2024-06-23T07:50:44+00:00 Mercury in cetaceans:exposure, bioaccumulation and toxicity Kershaw, Joanna Hall, Ailsa 2019-12 application/pdf https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/mercury-in-cetaceans(ea24c784-ffec-4170-914f-9e4cf118a49d).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133683 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/20371/1/Revised_Manuscript_Mercury_in_Cetaceans_v1.1.pdf eng eng https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/mercury-in-cetaceans(ea24c784-ffec-4170-914f-9e4cf118a49d).html info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Kershaw , J & Hall , A 2019 , ' Mercury in cetaceans : exposure, bioaccumulation and toxicity ' , Science of the Total Environment , vol. 694 , 133683 , pp. 1-11 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133683 Detoxification Health Marine mammals Methylmercury Toxicity article 2019 ftunstandrewcris https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133683 2024-06-13T01:06:44Z The fate and transportation of mercury in the marine environment are driven by a combination of anthropogenic atmospheric and aquatic sources, as well as natural geological inputs. Mercury biomagnifies up the food chain, resulting in the bioaccumulation of toxic concentrations in higher trophic organisms even when concentrations in their habitat remain below the threshold level for direct toxicity. As a result, mercury exposure has been recognised as a health concern for both humans and top marine predators, including cetaceans. There appears to be no overall trend in the global measured concentrations reported in cetaceans between 1975 and 2010, although differences between areas show that the highest concentrations in recent decades have been measured in the tissues of Mediterranean odontocetes. There is increasing concern for the impacts of mercury on the Arctic marine ecosystem with changes in water temperatures, ocean currents, and prey availability, all predicted to affect exposure. The accumulation of mercury in various tissues has been linked to renal and hepatic damage as well as reported neurotoxic, genotoxic, and immunotoxic effects. These effects have been documented through studies on stranded and by-caught cetaceans as well as in vitro cell culture experiments. Demethylation of methylmercury and protection by selenium have been suggested as possible mercury detoxification mechanisms in cetaceans that may explain the very high concentrations measured in tissues of some species with no apparent acute toxicity. Thus, the ratio of selenium to mercury is of importance when aiming to determine the impact of the contaminant load at an individual level. The long-term population level effects of mercury exposure are unknown, and continued monitoring of odontocete populations in particular is advised in order to predict the consequences of mercury uptake on marine food chains in the future. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic University of St Andrews: Research Portal Arctic Science of The Total Environment 694 133683 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftunstandrewcris |
language |
English |
topic |
Detoxification Health Marine mammals Methylmercury Toxicity |
spellingShingle |
Detoxification Health Marine mammals Methylmercury Toxicity Kershaw, Joanna Hall, Ailsa Mercury in cetaceans:exposure, bioaccumulation and toxicity |
topic_facet |
Detoxification Health Marine mammals Methylmercury Toxicity |
description |
The fate and transportation of mercury in the marine environment are driven by a combination of anthropogenic atmospheric and aquatic sources, as well as natural geological inputs. Mercury biomagnifies up the food chain, resulting in the bioaccumulation of toxic concentrations in higher trophic organisms even when concentrations in their habitat remain below the threshold level for direct toxicity. As a result, mercury exposure has been recognised as a health concern for both humans and top marine predators, including cetaceans. There appears to be no overall trend in the global measured concentrations reported in cetaceans between 1975 and 2010, although differences between areas show that the highest concentrations in recent decades have been measured in the tissues of Mediterranean odontocetes. There is increasing concern for the impacts of mercury on the Arctic marine ecosystem with changes in water temperatures, ocean currents, and prey availability, all predicted to affect exposure. The accumulation of mercury in various tissues has been linked to renal and hepatic damage as well as reported neurotoxic, genotoxic, and immunotoxic effects. These effects have been documented through studies on stranded and by-caught cetaceans as well as in vitro cell culture experiments. Demethylation of methylmercury and protection by selenium have been suggested as possible mercury detoxification mechanisms in cetaceans that may explain the very high concentrations measured in tissues of some species with no apparent acute toxicity. Thus, the ratio of selenium to mercury is of importance when aiming to determine the impact of the contaminant load at an individual level. The long-term population level effects of mercury exposure are unknown, and continued monitoring of odontocete populations in particular is advised in order to predict the consequences of mercury uptake on marine food chains in the future. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kershaw, Joanna Hall, Ailsa |
author_facet |
Kershaw, Joanna Hall, Ailsa |
author_sort |
Kershaw, Joanna |
title |
Mercury in cetaceans:exposure, bioaccumulation and toxicity |
title_short |
Mercury in cetaceans:exposure, bioaccumulation and toxicity |
title_full |
Mercury in cetaceans:exposure, bioaccumulation and toxicity |
title_fullStr |
Mercury in cetaceans:exposure, bioaccumulation and toxicity |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mercury in cetaceans:exposure, bioaccumulation and toxicity |
title_sort |
mercury in cetaceans:exposure, bioaccumulation and toxicity |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/mercury-in-cetaceans(ea24c784-ffec-4170-914f-9e4cf118a49d).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133683 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/20371/1/Revised_Manuscript_Mercury_in_Cetaceans_v1.1.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Kershaw , J & Hall , A 2019 , ' Mercury in cetaceans : exposure, bioaccumulation and toxicity ' , Science of the Total Environment , vol. 694 , 133683 , pp. 1-11 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133683 |
op_relation |
https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/mercury-in-cetaceans(ea24c784-ffec-4170-914f-9e4cf118a49d).html |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133683 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
694 |
container_start_page |
133683 |
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