Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Volume 236, Issue -, Pages 862-870Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.01.109
Keywords
Forest disturbance; Madre de Dios River; Mammals; Mercury; Peruvian Amazon
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Funding
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- joint Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA
- United States Geological Survey Postdoctoral Scholar Program, Woods Hole, MA
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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Mercury, a toxic trace metal, has been used extensively as an inexpensive and readily available method of extracting gold from fine-grained sediment. Worldwide, artisanal mining is responsible for one third of all mercury released into the environment. By testing bat hair from museum specimens and field collected samples from areas both impacted and unimpacted by artisanal gold mining in Peru, we show monomethylmercury (MMHg) has increased in the last 100 years. MMHg concentrations were also greatest in the highest bat trophic level (insectivores), and in areas experiencing extractive artisanal mining. Reproductive female bats had higher MMHg concentrations, and both juvenile and adult bats from mercury contaminated sites had more MMHg than those from uncontaminated sites. Bats have important ecological functions, providing vital ecosystem services such as pollination, seed dispersal, and insect control. Natural populations can act as environmental sentinels and offer the chance to expand our understanding of, and responses to, environmental and human health concerns. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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