Abstract
Legacy mercury (Hg) exists in Upper St. Lawrence River wetland hydric soils and is impacted by a new water level management plan (established in 2017) implemented to restore biodiversity and reduce the monotypic nature of riparian wetlands, currently dominated by Typha spp.. The distribution of Hg within the various components of a riparian wetland provides insight into potential impacts of water level fluctuations. Hydric soil represents 83% of the wetland Hg burden while wetland plant biomass contributed 17%, mostly due to organic detritus (13%). Although Typha roots had a bioconcentration factor of 1.2 (relative to hydric soils) and had the highest total Hg among living tissues (25 ± 9.3 ng/g dry wt.), detritus had the highest overall Hg content (110 ± 53 ng/g dry wt.). While root tissue Hg correlated significantly with soil Hg (p = 0.045), it was determined here that Typha spp. has limited use as a biomonitor in wetlands with low levels of Hg contamination, as in this ecosystem. Hg contained within the organic detritus contributed more to the overall Hg burden in these monotypic Typha wetlands than any other tissue or biomass component analyzed. Consequently, shifts in the plant community that are expected to result from a new water level management plan may alter Hg storage within these wetlands and affect its mobility in this ecosystem.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available in the Mendeley Data repository, http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/4xtg543hdj.1
Code Availability
Not applicable.
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Acknowledgements
We thank New York State Parks for permission to conduct this study at Coles Creek State Park.
Funding
This research was supported by the Great Lakes Research Consortium (New York). Support for C.N.A.C. was provided by the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program (NSF Award No. 1659623 to M.R.T.).
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ESB was responsible for conceptualization, investigation, methodology, project administration, formal analysis, and writing the original draft. CNAC assisted with the investigation and methodology; TMH provided resources, and manuscript review & editing. MRT was involved with project conceptualization, funding acquisition, supervision, and manuscript review & editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Brahmstedt, E.S., Crespo, C.N.A., Holsen, T.M. et al. Mercury distribution in an Upper St. Lawrence River wetland dominated by cattail (Typha angustifolia). Wetlands 41, 119 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-021-01511-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-021-01511-9