Forest Fire Increases Mercury Accumulation by Fishes Via Food Web Restructuring and Increased Mercury Inputs.
From: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2E9. ekelly@ualberta.ca
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Publish Date: Dec 2006
- ISSN: 0027-8424
- Volume: 103
- Issue: 51
- Pages: 19380-5
- Medium: Print
- Language: English
- Citation (JAMA): Kelly Erin N, Schindler David W, St Louis Vincent L, et al. Forest Fire Increases Mercury Accumulation by Fishes Via Food Web Restructuring and Increased Mercury Inputs.. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. Dec 2006;103:19380-5
Abstract
Recent findings indicate that fishes from lakes in partially burned catchments contain greater mercury (Hg) concentrations than fishes from reference catchments. Increased methyl Hg (MeHg) concentrations in fishes can result in serious health problems for consumers. Here we show that a forest fire caused a 5-fold increase in whole-body Hg accumulation by rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and smaller Hg increases in muscle of several fish species in a mountain lake. The enhanced Hg accumulation was caused primarily by increased nutrient concentrations in the lake, which enhanced productivity and restructured the food web through increased piscivory and consumption of Mysis. This restructuring resulted in increases to the trophic positions and Hg concentrations of fishes. Forest fire also caused a large short-term release of total Hg (THg) and MeHg to streams and the lake. This release initiated a small pulse of MeHg in invertebrates that contributed to enhanced Hg accumulation by fishes. Climate change and prescribed burning to compensate for past fire suppression are predicted to increase future forest fire occurrence in North America, and increased Hg accumulation by fishes may be an unexpected consequence.
Mesh Headings (Keywords): Alberta, Animals, Environmental Monitoring, Fires, Food Chain, Fresh Water, Linear Models, Mercury, Muscle, Skeletal, Nitrogen Isotopes, Species Specificity, Spectrometry, Fluorescence, Trees, Trout
Check for Full Text / PubMed Unique Identifier (PMID): 17158215
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