Abstract
Much of the toxic methylmercury (MeHg) that biomagnifies in the aquatic food chain and accumulates in fish and seafood is believed to originate from microbial methylation of inorganic Hg+2 in anoxic sediments. We examined the effect amending wetland sediments with activated carbon and biochar on Hg methylation potentials using microcosms and Hg stable isotope tracers. The inorganic 200Hg+2 spike was methylated at ~0.37 %/day in the untreated sediment, but that rate decreased to <0.08 %/day for the amended sediments, with 80 % and 88 % reductions in methylation rates for activated carbon and biochar amendments, respectively. Demethylation rates were relatively unchanged. Our key finding is that amending contaminated sediment with activated carbon and biochar decreases bioavailable Hg, and thus may also decrease Hg transfer into food webs. However, further research is needed to evaluate exactly how the sorbents impact Hg methylation rates and for related field studies.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the University of Mississippi’s Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for financial support for this research. We thank Robert Mason, Prentiss Balcom and Nashaat Mazrui at the University of Connecticut for demonstrating experimental procedures to determine Hg methylation rates in sediments. The biochar was provided by Todd Mlsna at Mississippi State University.
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Bussan, D.D., Sessums, R.F. & Cizdziel, J.V. Activated Carbon and Biochar Reduce Mercury Methylation Potentials in Aquatic Sediments. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 96, 536–539 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-016-1734-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-016-1734-6