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Integrated Mercury Monitoring Program for Temperate Estuarine and Marine Ecosystems on the North American Atlantic Coast

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Abstract

During the past century, anthropogenic activities have altered the distribution of mercury (Hg) on the earth’s surface. The impacts of such alterations to the natural cycle of Hg can be minimized through coordinated management, policy decisions, and legislative regulations. An ability to quantitatively measure environmental Hg loadings and spatiotemporal trends of their fate in the environment is critical for science-based decision making. Here, we outline a Hg monitoring program for temperate estuarine and marine ecosystems on the Atlantic Coast of North America. This framework follows a similar, previously developed plan for freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems in the U.S. Methylmercury (MeHg) is the toxicologically relevant form of Hg, and its ability to bioaccumulate in organisms and biomagnify in food webs depends on numerous biological and physicochemical factors that affect its production, transport, and fate. Therefore, multiple indicators are needed to fully characterize potential changes of Hg loadings in the environment and MeHg bioaccumulation through the different marine food webs. In addition to a description of how to monitor environmental Hg loads for air, sediment, and water, we outline a species-specific matrix of biotic indicators that include shellfish and other invertebrates, fish, birds and mammals. Such a Hg monitoring template is applicable to coastal areas across the Northern Hemisphere and is transferable to arctic and tropical marine ecosystems. We believe that a comprehensive approach provides an ability to best detect spatiotemporal Hg trends for both human and ecological health, and concurrently identify food webs and species at greatest risk to MeHg toxicity.

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Acknowledgments

Through a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Dartmouth College organized a Hg workshop in November 2006 that provided the opportunity to discuss and describe a standardized marine mercury monitoring network based on the consensus of a group of interdisciplinary mercury scientists. We thank Wing Goodale of BioDiversity Research Institute for expertly generating the study area map, and David Gay, Coordinator for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program, which includes the Mercury Deposition Network. Effort toward manuscript preparation was partially supported by NIH Grant Number P42 ESO7373 from the NIEHS and the RI-INBRE Grant Number P20RR016457 from NCRR, NIH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. BioDiversity Research Institute, 19 Flaggy Meadow Road, Gorham, ME, 04038, USA

    David C. Evers

  2. Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, 1080 Shennecossett Road, Groton, CT, 06340, USA

    Robert P. Mason

  3. Water Quality Division, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, Waterbury, VT, 05671, USA

    Neil C. Kamman

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, HB 6044, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA

    Celia Y. Chen

  5. Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA

    Andrea L. Bogomolni

  6. Marine & Natural Sciences, Roger Williams University, Office 240, One Old Ferry Road, Bristol, RI, 02809, USA

    David L. Taylor

  7. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway, Dayton, OH, 45435, USA

    Chad R. Hammerschmidt

  8. Department of Natural Resources, University of New Hampshire, 56 College Road, 215 James Hall, Durham, NH, 03824, USA

    Stephen H. Jones

  9. Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service, 6 Bruce Street, Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and Labrador, A1N 4T3, Canada

    Neil M. Burgess

  10. New England Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 70 Commercial Street, Suite 300, Concord, NH, 03301, USA

    Kenneth Munney

  11. Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, PO Box 1770, Manomet, MA, 02345, USA

    Katharine C. Parsons

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  1. David C. Evers
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Correspondence to David C. Evers.

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Evers, D.C., Mason, R.P., Kamman, N.C. et al. Integrated Mercury Monitoring Program for Temperate Estuarine and Marine Ecosystems on the North American Atlantic Coast. EcoHealth 5, 426–441 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-008-0205-x

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