How closely do mercury trends in fish and other aquatic wildlife track those in the atmosphere? – Implications for evaluating the effectiveness of the Minamata Convention

Wang, Fei; Outridge, P.M.; Meng, Bo; Meng, Bo; Heimbürger‐Boavida, Lars‐Eric; Mason, Robert P.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.101

Cited by 93 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…Similar patterns are found for 2100. A conceptual model was proposed that the decline of Hg in marine biota would take much longer than the decrease in Hg emissions (Wang et al 2019). Our study confirms this hypothesis and finds that the percentage changes in planktonic MeHg concentrations for S2, S3, and S4 in 2050 (4%, 14%, and 28%, respectively) are much smaller than those of deposition (7%, 19%, and 37%) and anthropogenic emissions (20%, 46%, and 85%).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Human Health Benefits of the Minamata Convention on Mercury

Zhang

2020

Preprint

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<p>The Minamata Convention is a legally-binding international treaty aimed at reducing the anthropogenic release of mercury, a potent neurotoxin. However, its human health benefit has not been quantified at a global scale. Here we evaluate the Convention&#8217;s benefit by a coupled climate-atmosphere-land-ocean-ecosystem model and a human mercury exposure component that considers all food categories. We find the mercury health risk decreases nonlinearly with emission reduction, and the most optimistic scenario leads to mercury level in marine biota half of the present-day level. Our results show that the accumulated benefits of the Convention are 660 billion USD avoided earn loss (3% discount rate, realized in 2010) and 1.2 million avoided deaths from fatal heart attacks over the period 2010-2100, with substantial global human health cost if delaying emission reduction actions. Such a comprehensive modelling approach helps parties to evaluate the effectiveness of implementation as required by the Convention.</p>

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Human Health Benefits of the Minamata Convention on Mercury

Zhang

2020

Preprint

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“…With implementation of the Minamata convention underway [74], gaining insights into historical responses of biota to anthropogenic Hg is critical. Indeed, a recent study showed divergence between Hg levels in aquatic wildlife and atmospheric values, especially in the last two decades [75], that might be caused by climate change. The overriding and opposite effect that climate change may have on a reduction of Hg emissions requires that governments and environmental agencies worldwide be equipped with the means to accurately assess the efficiency of the reduction of Hg emissions on ecosystem health.…”

Section: Swift Evolutionary Response Of Mera From the Onset Of The Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Swift evolutionary response of microbes to a rise in anthropogenic mercury in the Northern Hemisphere

2019

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Anthropogenic mercury remobilization has considerably increased since the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s. The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a United Nations treaty (2017) aiming at curbing mercury emissions. Unfortunately, evaluating the effectiveness of such a global treaty is hampered by our inability to determine the lag in aquatic ecosystem responses to a change in atmospheric mercury deposition. Whereas past metal concentrations are obtained from core samples, there are currently no means of tracking historical metal bioavailability or toxicity. Here, we recovered DNA from nine dated sediment cores collected in Canada and Finland, and reconstructed the past demographics of microbes carrying genes coding for the mercuric reductase (MerA)-an enzyme involved in Hg detoxification-using Bayesian relaxed molecular clocks. We found that the evolutionary dynamics of merA exhibited a dramatic increase in effective population size starting from 1783.8 ± 3.9 CE, which coincides with both the Industrial Revolution, and with independent measurements of atmospheric Hg concentrations. We show that even low levels of anthropogenic mercury affected the evolutionary trajectory of microbes in the Northern Hemisphere, and that microbial DNA encoding for detoxification determinants stored in environmental archives can be used to track historical pollutant toxicity.

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“…In 2017, the Minamata Convention came into force with the aim of reducing anthropogenic mercury (Hg) emissions worldwide. Monitoring of Hg species is required in order to effectively reduce exposure in humans [6]. In aquatic systems, Hg is present in its elemental, inorganic, and organic forms, and its ionic forms can be converted to the highly toxic monomethylated species (HgCH 3 + ) by iron-and sulfate-reducing bacteria.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The terrestrial environment represents the largest inventory of Hg (approximately 950 kt), with approximately 150 kt stored in surface organic soils. The atmospheric and aquatic chemistry of Hg is one of the most complexes of all trace metals [6]. Metallic mercury slowly volatilizes at room temperature [12] and its vapor is stable in the atmosphere, thus it can be transported on a global scale through air currents, affecting remote natural areas away from point sources of contamination.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These changes in the landscape and land use in the watershed also interfere in the organic carbon flow and redox conditions that directly influence the Hg methylation processes in adjacent aquatic systems. The Hg concentration in reservoir fish are mainly controlled by the influx and dynamics of organic carbon and terrestrial Hg even decades after reservoir damming [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of Total Mercury in Sediments of the Descoberto River Environmental Protection Area—Brazil

Portela

Souza

Tonhá

et al. 2019

IJERPH

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To evaluate the total mercury accumulation (THg) in the Descoberto river basin environmental protection area (DREPA), nine sediment and water samples were collected from the Descoberto reservoir (lentic environment), and 23 in its tributaries (lotic environment), which are located in a densely urbanized area within the Descoberto river watershed, Brazil. The following physicochemical parameters of water were determined: dissolved oxygen (DO); hydrogen potential (pH); total dissolved solids (TDS); nitrate (NO3−); chloride (Cl−); temperature (T); sulfate (SO42−), and in sediment, the concentration of total mercury (THg) and volatile material (VM) was determined. THg concentrations in sediments showed a significant difference (p = 0.002) between tributaries (0.03 µg g−1 ± 0.02) and reservoir (0.08 µg g−1 ± 0.04), indicating accumulation in the lentic environment. Most of the results evaluated for ecotoxicological risks presented values below the concentration, at which adverse effects would rarely be observed, ERL (effects range low). However, in relation to the enrichment factor (EF), applied to identify the anthropogenic contribution, the results indicate that most of the samples are moderately polluted through atmospheric deposition due to vehicular traffic and agriculture. These results show that the likelihood of methylation in the lentic environment is higher than in the lotic environment.

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How closely do mercury trends in fish and other aquatic wildlife track those in the atmosphere? – Implications for evaluating the effectiveness of the Minamata Convention

Cited by 93 publications

References 80 publications

Human Health Benefits of the Minamata Convention on Mercury

Human Health Benefits of the Minamata Convention on Mercury

Swift evolutionary response of microbes to a rise in anthropogenic mercury in the Northern Hemisphere

Evaluation of Total Mercury in Sediments of the Descoberto River Environmental Protection Area—Brazil

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