Mercury in freshwater ecosystems of the Canadian Arctic: Recent advances on its cycling and fate
The Canadian Arctic has vast freshwater resources, and fish are important in the diet of many Northerners. Mercury is a contaminant of concern because of its potential toxicity and elevated bioaccumulation in some fish populations. Over the last decade, significant advances have been made in charact...
Published in: | Science of The Total Environment |
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Science of the Total Environment
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.151 https://dspace.library.uvic.ca//handle/1828/9408 |
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ftuvicpubl:oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/9408 2023-05-15T14:26:20+02:00 Mercury in freshwater ecosystems of the Canadian Arctic: Recent advances on its cycling and fate Chételat, John Amyot, Marc Arp, Paul Blais, Jules M. Depew, David Emmerton, Craig A. Evans, Marlene Gamberg, Mary Gantner, Nikolaus Girard, Catherine Graydon, Jennifer Kirk, Jane Lean, David Lehnherr, Igor Muir, Derek Nasr, Mina Poulain, Alexandre J. Power, Michael Roach, Pat Stern, Gary Swanson, Heidi van der Velden, Shannon 2015 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.151 https://dspace.library.uvic.ca//handle/1828/9408 en eng Science of the Total Environment Chételat, J.,Amyot, M., Arp, P., Blais, J.M., Depew, D., Emmerton, C.A. & van der Velden, S. (2015). Mercury in freshwater ecosystems of the Canadian Arctic: Recent advances on its cycling and fate. Science of the Total Environment, 509- 510, 41-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.151 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.151 https://dspace.library.uvic.ca//handle/1828/9408 Arctic Mercury Fresh water Bioaccumulation Biogeochemistry Temporal trends Article 2015 ftuvicpubl https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.151 2022-05-19T06:13:21Z The Canadian Arctic has vast freshwater resources, and fish are important in the diet of many Northerners. Mercury is a contaminant of concern because of its potential toxicity and elevated bioaccumulation in some fish populations. Over the last decade, significant advances have been made in characterizing the cycling and fate of mercury in these freshwater environments. Large amounts of new data on concentrations, speciation and fluxes of Hg are provided and summarized for water and sediment, which were virtually absent for the Canadian Arctic a decade ago. The biogeochemical processes that control the speciation of mercury remain poorly resolved, including the sites and controls of methylmercury production. Food web studies have examined the roles of Hg uptake, trophic transfer, and diet for Hg bioaccumulation in fish, and, in particular, advances have been made in identifying determinants of mercury levels in lake-dwelling and sea-run forms of Arctic char. In a comparison of common freshwater fish species that were sampled across the Canadian Arctic between 2002 and 2009, no geographic patterns or regional hotspots were evident. Over the last two to four decades, Hg concentrations have increased in some monitored populations of fish in the Mackenzie River Basin while other populations from the Yukon and Nunavut showed no change or a slight decline. The different Hg trends indicate that the drivers of temporal change may be regional or habitat-specific. The Canadian Arctic is undergoing profound environmental change, and preliminary evidence suggests that it may be impacting the cycling and bioaccumulation of mercury. Further research is needed to investigate climate change impacts on the Hg cycle as well as biogeochemical controls of methylmercury production and the processes leading to increasing Hg levels in some fish populations in the Canadian Arctic. The authors wish to thank the Northern Contaminants Program (NCP) of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, as well as ArcticNet and ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic ArcticNet Climate change Mackenzie river Nunavut Yukon University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace Arctic Canada Mackenzie River Nunavut Yukon Science of The Total Environment 509-510 41 66 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftuvicpubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic Mercury Fresh water Bioaccumulation Biogeochemistry Temporal trends |
spellingShingle |
Arctic Mercury Fresh water Bioaccumulation Biogeochemistry Temporal trends Chételat, John Amyot, Marc Arp, Paul Blais, Jules M. Depew, David Emmerton, Craig A. Evans, Marlene Gamberg, Mary Gantner, Nikolaus Girard, Catherine Graydon, Jennifer Kirk, Jane Lean, David Lehnherr, Igor Muir, Derek Nasr, Mina Poulain, Alexandre J. Power, Michael Roach, Pat Stern, Gary Swanson, Heidi van der Velden, Shannon Mercury in freshwater ecosystems of the Canadian Arctic: Recent advances on its cycling and fate |
topic_facet |
Arctic Mercury Fresh water Bioaccumulation Biogeochemistry Temporal trends |
description |
The Canadian Arctic has vast freshwater resources, and fish are important in the diet of many Northerners. Mercury is a contaminant of concern because of its potential toxicity and elevated bioaccumulation in some fish populations. Over the last decade, significant advances have been made in characterizing the cycling and fate of mercury in these freshwater environments. Large amounts of new data on concentrations, speciation and fluxes of Hg are provided and summarized for water and sediment, which were virtually absent for the Canadian Arctic a decade ago. The biogeochemical processes that control the speciation of mercury remain poorly resolved, including the sites and controls of methylmercury production. Food web studies have examined the roles of Hg uptake, trophic transfer, and diet for Hg bioaccumulation in fish, and, in particular, advances have been made in identifying determinants of mercury levels in lake-dwelling and sea-run forms of Arctic char. In a comparison of common freshwater fish species that were sampled across the Canadian Arctic between 2002 and 2009, no geographic patterns or regional hotspots were evident. Over the last two to four decades, Hg concentrations have increased in some monitored populations of fish in the Mackenzie River Basin while other populations from the Yukon and Nunavut showed no change or a slight decline. The different Hg trends indicate that the drivers of temporal change may be regional or habitat-specific. The Canadian Arctic is undergoing profound environmental change, and preliminary evidence suggests that it may be impacting the cycling and bioaccumulation of mercury. Further research is needed to investigate climate change impacts on the Hg cycle as well as biogeochemical controls of methylmercury production and the processes leading to increasing Hg levels in some fish populations in the Canadian Arctic. The authors wish to thank the Northern Contaminants Program (NCP) of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, as well as ArcticNet and ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Chételat, John Amyot, Marc Arp, Paul Blais, Jules M. Depew, David Emmerton, Craig A. Evans, Marlene Gamberg, Mary Gantner, Nikolaus Girard, Catherine Graydon, Jennifer Kirk, Jane Lean, David Lehnherr, Igor Muir, Derek Nasr, Mina Poulain, Alexandre J. Power, Michael Roach, Pat Stern, Gary Swanson, Heidi van der Velden, Shannon |
author_facet |
Chételat, John Amyot, Marc Arp, Paul Blais, Jules M. Depew, David Emmerton, Craig A. Evans, Marlene Gamberg, Mary Gantner, Nikolaus Girard, Catherine Graydon, Jennifer Kirk, Jane Lean, David Lehnherr, Igor Muir, Derek Nasr, Mina Poulain, Alexandre J. Power, Michael Roach, Pat Stern, Gary Swanson, Heidi van der Velden, Shannon |
author_sort |
Chételat, John |
title |
Mercury in freshwater ecosystems of the Canadian Arctic: Recent advances on its cycling and fate |
title_short |
Mercury in freshwater ecosystems of the Canadian Arctic: Recent advances on its cycling and fate |
title_full |
Mercury in freshwater ecosystems of the Canadian Arctic: Recent advances on its cycling and fate |
title_fullStr |
Mercury in freshwater ecosystems of the Canadian Arctic: Recent advances on its cycling and fate |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mercury in freshwater ecosystems of the Canadian Arctic: Recent advances on its cycling and fate |
title_sort |
mercury in freshwater ecosystems of the canadian arctic: recent advances on its cycling and fate |
publisher |
Science of the Total Environment |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.151 https://dspace.library.uvic.ca//handle/1828/9408 |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Mackenzie River Nunavut Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Mackenzie River Nunavut Yukon |
genre |
Arctic Arctic ArcticNet Climate change Mackenzie river Nunavut Yukon |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic ArcticNet Climate change Mackenzie river Nunavut Yukon |
op_relation |
Chételat, J.,Amyot, M., Arp, P., Blais, J.M., Depew, D., Emmerton, C.A. & van der Velden, S. (2015). Mercury in freshwater ecosystems of the Canadian Arctic: Recent advances on its cycling and fate. Science of the Total Environment, 509- 510, 41-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.151 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.151 https://dspace.library.uvic.ca//handle/1828/9408 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.151 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
509-510 |
container_start_page |
41 |
op_container_end_page |
66 |
_version_ |
1766298850801221632 |