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Forestry Influence by Stump Harvest and Site Preparation on Methylmercury, Total Mercury and Other Stream Water Chemistry Parameters Across a Boreal Landscape

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Abstract

Forestry has been reported to cause elevated mercury (Hg) concentrations in runoff water. However, the degree to which forestry operations influence Hg in runoff varies among sites. A synoptic study, covering 54 catchments distributed all over Sweden, subjected to either stump harvest (SH), site preparation (SP) or no treatment (Ref), was undertaken to reveal the degree of forestry impact and causes of eventual variation. All streams were sampled twice, in autumn 2009 and summer 2010. There were no significant differences in total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations between the three treatments in either 2009 or 2010. However, when pooling the treated catchments (that is, SH and SP) and taking catchment properties such as latitude into account, the treatment had a significant influence on the THg and MeHg concentrations. Although the treatment effect on THg and MeHg did not differ between SH and SP, the study did reveal significant forestry effects on potassium (K) and total nitrogen (TN) that were greater in the SH catchments and lower in the SP catchments. Partial least square (PLS) regressions indicated that organic matter was the most important variable influencing both the THg and MeHg concentrations. There were no significant differences between the treatment groups when comparing the ratios of THg/total organic carbon (TOC) and MeHg/TOC, suggesting that the high concentrations of THg and MeHg observed at some of the treated catchments are associated with increased concentrations of TOC rather than new methylation or increased mobilization caused by factors other than TOC.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Swedish Energy Agency, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, MISTRA Future Forests and the forest companies Sveaskog, Stora Enso and Skogssällskapet. Great help with identifying the treated catchments in this study was provided by Skogforsk and the forestry companies SCA, Södra skogsägarna, Skogssällskapet, Sveaskog and Holmen skog. We thank all people involved in the field sampling campaign and especially Anders Larson who also helped during the preparation period of this study. We also thank Ulf Skyllberg, Martyn Futter and Emma Göthe for valuable comments on the manuscript and Andrew Henry for helping with the GIS calculations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7050, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden

    Karin Eklöf, Andrea Kraus & Kevin Bishop

  2. Department of Ecology and Genetics/Limnology, Uppsala University, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden

    Gesa A. Weyhenmeyer

  3. Department of Applied Environmental Science, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Markus Meili

  4. Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden

    Kevin Bishop

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  1. Karin Eklöf
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  2. Andrea Kraus
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  4. Markus Meili
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  5. Kevin Bishop
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Correspondence to Karin Eklöf.

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Author Contributions

KE wrote the paper, designed the study, preformed research and analyzed the data. AK, GW and MM contributed to data analysis and helped in writing the paper. KB conceived the project, performed research, contributed to the data analysis and helped in writing the paper.

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Eklöf, K., Kraus, A., Weyhenmeyer, G.A. et al. Forestry Influence by Stump Harvest and Site Preparation on Methylmercury, Total Mercury and Other Stream Water Chemistry Parameters Across a Boreal Landscape. Ecosystems 15, 1308–1320 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9586-3

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