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The Hg behaviors in mangrove ecosystems revealed by Hg stable isotopes: a case study of Maowei mangrove

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Abstract

As one of the most productive marine ecosystems in the tropics and subtropics, mangroves are an important part of the global mercury (Hg) cycling. The environmental processes and effects of Hg in mangroves are complex and affect human Hg exposure, and it is crucial to understand Hg behaviors in the mangrove ecosystem. However, clarifying Hg behaviors in the mangrove ecosystem remains difficult because of an insufficient understanding of the dominant pathways. In this study, measurements of mercury (Hg) concentration and isotope ratios in sediment and plant tissues from a mangrove wetland were used to investigate Hg isotope fractionation in mangrove plants and sediments. Spatial patterns in Hg concentration and isotope signatures indicate that Hg re-emission in the sediment was suppressed by mangrove plants. The ratio of Δ199Hg/Δ201Hg was 0.93 for all sediments, indicating that Hg mass-independent fractionation in the mangrove ecosystem was primarily affected by photoreduction, while the ratios of Δ199Hg/Δ201Hg and Δ199Hg/δ202Hg for plant tissues suggested that natural organic matter reduction of Hg(II) was occurred in the plants. The distinct positive Δ199Hg values found in mangrove plants were supposed to be the results of the unique physiological characteristics of mangroves. The exterior Hg sources from atmosphere and seawater emphasize the role of mangrove ecosystems in the global Hg biogeochemistry. Our study highlights the distinct Hg isotope signatures in the mangrove from that in forests and indicates unique Hg behaviors in the mangrove ecosystem.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of the Visiting Fellowship Program of the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University (MELRS2011). We would like to thank LetPub (www.letpub.com) for providing linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.

Funding

This research was financed by the National Science Foundation for Young Scientists of China (22006168), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province, China (2020J05074), and the Scientific Research Foundation of the Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources (No. 2016045; No. 2016014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Natural Resources, Third Institute of Oceanography, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Shuyuan Huang, Ronggen Jiang, Yuhan Zhao, Supeng Lv, Yuanbiao Zhang & Yunlong Huo

  2. State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China

    Shuyuan Huang, Qingyong Song & Yaojin Chen

  3. College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China

    Yuhan Zhao

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  1. Shuyuan Huang
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Contributions

SH, major contributor in writing the original draft of the manuscript, analyzed and interpreted the data on samples. QS, YZ, and YC performed the sediments, whereas YH and SL performed the plant tissues. RJ and SH conceptualized this study and acquired the funding. YZ* supervised the study. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yuanbiao Zhang.

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Huang, S., Jiang, R., Song, Q. et al. The Hg behaviors in mangrove ecosystems revealed by Hg stable isotopes: a case study of Maowei mangrove. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 25349–25359 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17744-4

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