Journal
ECOHEALTH
Volume 5, Issue 4, Pages 399-408Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10393-008-0201-1
Keywords
methylmercury; bioaccumulation; trophic transfer; biomagnification; bioadvection
Funding
- NIH [P42 ESO7373]
- Department of Defense
- ESSRF (Environmental Science Strategic Research Fund) DFO, Canada
- Woods Hole Sea Grant
- Woods Hole Coastal Ocean Institute
- National Science Foundation
- RI-INBRE [P20RR016457]
- NCRR
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The spatial variation of MeHg production, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification in marine food webs is poorly characterized but critical to understanding the links between sources and higher trophic levels, such as fish that are ultimately vectors of human and wildlife exposure. This article discusses both large and local scale processes controlling Hg supply, methylation, bioaccumulation, and transfer in marine ecosystems. While global estimates of Hg supply suggest important open ocean reservoirs of MeHg, only coastal processes and food webs are known sources of MeHg production, bioaccumulation, and bioadvection. The patterns observed to date suggest that not all sources and biotic receptors are spatially linked, and that physical and ecological processes are important in transferring MeHg from source regions to bioaccumulation in marine food webs and from lower to higher trophic levels.
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