Climate change and mercury in the Arctic: Biotic interactions.

Autor: McKinney MA; Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3 V9, Canada. Electronic address: melissa.mckinney@mcgill.ca., Chételat J; Ecotoxicology & Wildlife Health, Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1A 0H3, Canada., Burke SM; Minnow Aquatic Environmental Services, Guelph, ON N1H 1E9, Canada., Elliott KH; Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3 V9, Canada., Fernie KJ; Ecotoxicology & Wildlife Health, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, ON L7S 1A1, Canada., Houde M; Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Montréal, QC H2Y 5E7, Canada., Kahilainen KK; Lammi Biological Station, University of Helsinki, FI-16900 Lammi, Finland., Letcher RJ; Ecotoxicology & Wildlife Health, Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1A 0H3, Canada., Morris AD; Northern Contaminants Program, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, Gatineau, QC J8X 2V6, Canada., Muir DCG; Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, ON L7S 1A1, Canada., Routti H; Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, NO-9296 Tromsø, Norway., Yurkowski DJ; Arctic Aquatic Research Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N6, Canada.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2022 Aug 15; Vol. 834, pp. 155221. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Apr 12.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155221
Abstrakt: Global climate change has led to profound alterations of the Arctic environment and ecosystems, with potential secondary effects on mercury (Hg) within Arctic biota. This review presents the current scientific evidence for impacts of direct physical climate change and indirect ecosystem change on Hg exposure and accumulation in Arctic terrestrial, freshwater, and marine organisms. As the marine environment is elevated in Hg compared to the terrestrial environment, terrestrial herbivores that now exploit coastal/marine foods when terrestrial plants are iced over may be exposed to higher Hg concentrations. Conversely, certain populations of predators, including Arctic foxes and polar bears, have shown lower Hg concentrations related to reduced sea ice-based foraging and increased land-based foraging. How climate change influences Hg in Arctic freshwater fishes is not clear, but for lacustrine populations it may depend on lake-specific conditions, including interrelated alterations in lake ice duration, turbidity, food web length and energy sources (benthic to pelagic), and growth dilution. In several marine mammal and seabird species, tissue Hg concentrations have shown correlations with climate and weather variables, including climate oscillation indices and sea ice trends; these findings suggest that wind, precipitation, and cryosphere changes that alter Hg transport and deposition are impacting Hg concentrations in Arctic marine organisms. Ecological changes, including northward range shifts of sub-Arctic species and altered body condition, have also been shown to affect Hg levels in some populations of Arctic marine species. Given the limited number of populations and species studied to date, especially within Arctic terrestrial and freshwater systems, further research is needed on climate-driven processes influencing Hg concentrations in Arctic ecosystems and their net effects. Long-term pan-Arctic monitoring programs should consider ancillary datasets on climate, weather, organism ecology and physiology to improve interpretation of spatial variation and time trends of Hg in Arctic biota.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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