Relationship Between Methylmercury Contamination and Proportion of Aquatic and Terrestrial Prey in Diets of Shoreline Spiders
| Autor: | Edward B. Williams, Benjamin D. Barst, Andrea Santa-Rios, Ray W. Drenner, D. Kirkland Polk, Niladri Basu, MacGregor N. Hall, James H. Kennedy, Kyle C. Lauck, Celeste L. Ortega‐Rodriguez, Weston H. Nowlin, Matthew M. Chumchal |
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| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Aquatic Organisms Health Toxicology and Mutagenesis 010501 environmental sciences Biology 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Predation chemistry.chemical_compound Environmental Chemistry Animals Methylmercury 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Shore geography Spider Carbon Isotopes geography.geographical_feature_category Nitrogen Isotopes Ecology Spiders Contamination Methylmercury Compounds Diet Taxon chemistry Predatory Behavior Environmental Monitoring |
| Zdroj: | Environmental toxicology and chemistry. 38(11) |
| ISSN: | 1552-8618 |
| Popis: | Terrestrial organisms such as shoreline spiders that consume prey from aquatic food webs can be contaminated with methylmercury (MeHg). However, no studies have examined the relationship between MeHg contamination of shoreline spider taxa and the proportion of aquatic and terrestrial prey in their diets. The present study had 2 objectives: 1) determine concentrations of MeHg in 7 taxa of shoreline spiders, and 2) assess the relationship between concentrations of MeHg in spiders and the proportion of aquatic and terrestrial prey in spider diets. We collected shoreline spiders, emergent aquatic insects, and terrestrial insects from in and around 10 experimental ponds. Methylmercury concentrations were greatest in spiders, intermediate in aquatic insects, and lowest in terrestrial insects. The elevated MeHg concentrations in spiders indicate that they were feeding, at least in part, on emergent aquatic insects. However, variability in MeHg concentration observed among spider taxa suggested that the proportion of aquatic and terrestrial prey in spider diets likely varied among taxa. We estimated the proportion of aquatic and terrestrial prey in the diet of each spider taxon from the nitrogen (δ15 N) and carbon (δ13 C) isotope values of spiders and their potential aquatic and terrestrial prey items. The median proportion of aquatic prey in spider diets varied by almost 2-fold, and MeHg concentrations in shoreline spiders were strongly correlated with the proportion of aquatic prey in their diet. In the present study, we demonstrate for the first time that the degree of connectivity to aquatic food webs determines MeHg contamination of shoreline spiders. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:2503-2508. © 2019 SETAC. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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