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Mercury bioaccumulation in arthropods from typical community habitats in a zinc-smelting area

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Abstract

This study assessed the enrichment of mercury in the food web from the different community habitats in a zinc-smelting area of China. We used a nitrogen stable isotope technique to analyze trophic level relationships among arthropods and found that the first trophic level consisted of plants in the different community habitats, the second trophic level consisted of herbivores such as locusts and grasshoppers (primary consumers), and the third trophic level included spiders and mantes (secondary consumers). Mercury enrichment in the primary consumers was not evident, but enrichment in arthropods of the third trophic level was significant. The average of enrichment coefficients in spiders and mantes was greater than 1. The δ15N values indicated that mercury concentrations accumulated from primary producers to top carnivorous arthropods increased. In this zinc-smelting area, the biological amplification of mercury in the food web is significant. It is reasonable to assume that humans, located at the top of the food chain, are exposed to biomagnified levels of mercury.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the support of the national natural science foundation (41571085, 41771106) and competitive selection project of Shenyang scientific undertaking.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Regional Environment and Eco-Remediation, Ministry of Education, Shenyang University, Shenyang, 110044, China

    Dongmei Zheng, Dan Jin, Huiying Li & Xinxin Li

  2. Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130102, China

    XiaoHui Liu

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  1. Dongmei Zheng
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  2. XiaoHui Liu
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  3. Dan Jin
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  4. Huiying Li
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  5. Xinxin Li
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Correspondence to XiaoHui Liu.

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Zheng, D., Liu, X., Jin, D. et al. Mercury bioaccumulation in arthropods from typical community habitats in a zinc-smelting area. Environ Geochem Health 40, 1329–1337 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-017-0059-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-017-0059-7

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