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Mercury in Living Organisms: Sources and Forms of Occurrence, Bioaccumulation, and Determination Methods

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Handbook of Bioanalytics

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Abstract

Mercury (Hg) is a heavy metal with well-known and broadly tested toxicity. Since Hg pollution and its impacts on human health are of global concern, it has become necessary to develop analytical methodologies that will provide tools to obtain reliable analytical information about the levels of Hg in samples, which very often have a complex matrix composition. This chapter summarizes key information on Hg and its chemical forms, sources of its emission to the environment, and the global Hg cycle. In addition, the concepts of bioaccumulation and biomagnification of Hg along the food chain are characterized. This chapter also describes the analytical methods used in the determination of Hg and its compounds.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Gdańsk, Poland

    Piotr Konieczka & Małgorzata Rutkowska

  2. Medical University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Food Sciences, Gdańsk, Poland

    Małgorzata Misztal-Szkudlińska & Piotr Szefer

Authors
  1. Piotr Konieczka
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  2. Małgorzata Rutkowska
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  3. Małgorzata Misztal-Szkudlińska
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  4. Piotr Szefer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Piotr Konieczka .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Chemistry and Bioanalytics, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland

    Bogusław Buszewski

  2. Faculty of Chemistry, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland

    Irena Baranowska

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Tadeusz Górecki

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Konieczka, P., Rutkowska, M., Misztal-Szkudlińska, M., Szefer, P. (2022). Mercury in Living Organisms: Sources and Forms of Occurrence, Bioaccumulation, and Determination Methods. In: Buszewski, B., Baranowska, I. (eds) Handbook of Bioanalytics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63957-0_48-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63957-0_48-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-63957-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-63957-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Chemistry and Mat. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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