Ecosystem Responses to Mercury Contamination: Indicators of Change

by Harris; Reed

• ISBN13: 9780849388927
• ISBN10: 0849388929
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-03-05
• Publisher: CRC Press

Summary

As rising levels of mercury in the environment pose an increasing threat of toxicity to humans and wildlife, several laws already call for industries to reduce mercury emissions at the source. Ecosystem Responses to Mercury Contamination: Indicators of Change outlines the infrastructure and methods needed to measure, monitor, and regulate the concentration of mercury present in the environment.This book draws on the knowledge of forty international experts in the fields of atmospheric transport and deposition, mercury cycling in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and mercury bioaccumulation in aquatic foodwebs and wildlife. The authors propose a set of indicators to use as a measure of changing mercury concentrations in the environment. Next, they recommend a monitoring strategy and offer guidance for determining systematic changes in concentration. Then the authors examine additional monitoring strategies to relate observed changes in concentration to regulatory controls on mercury emissions. The final chapter provides an integrated framework for establishing a national-scale program to monitor mercury concentrations in the environment.Ecosystem Responses to Mercury Contamination: Indicators of Change contains the information needed to design a large-scale monitoring program for mercury and to use the concentration data to create, enforce, and evaluate the progress of initiatives aimed at reducing mercury emissions.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xv
About the Editors	p. xvii
Introduction	p. 1
Mercury Emissions and Deposition	p. 3
Mercury Concentration Trends in Fish	p. 4
Book Objectives	p. 7
Establishing Baseline Conditions and Temporal Trends	p. 8
Establishing Cause-Effect Relationships	p. 9
Sampling Strategy	p. 9
Monitoring Data and Modeling	p. 9
References	p. 10
Airsheds and Watersheds	p. 13
Abstract	p. 13
Introduction	p. 14
Objective	p. 17
Limitations	p. 18
Emissions of Mercury	p. 18
Detection of Trends	p. 18
Attribution of Causality	p. 20
Overall Criteria for Selecting Monitoring Sites, Global and Regional Influence	p. 20
Airsheds	p. 22
Introduction	p. 22
The Chemistry of Atmospheric Mercury	p. 25
Dry Deposition to Terrestrial and Aquatic Receptors	p. 25
Wet Scavenging by Precipitation Events	p. 25
Atmospheric Residence Time	p. 26
Measurements and Analytical Methods	p. 26
Modeling and the Need for Co-location/Intensive Sites	p. 27
Existing Atmospheric Mercury Monitoring Networks	p. 27
Air Quality Mercury Intensive Sites	p. 32
Total Ecosystem Deposition	p. 33
Snow Surveys	p. 35
Watersheds	p. 35
Introduction	p. 35
Intensive Watershed Monitoring	p. 38
Soil Surveys	p. 41
Forest Floor Surveys	p. 41
Surface Water Surveys	p. 41
References	p. 41
Monitoring and Evaluating Trends in Sediment and Water Indicators	p. 47
Abstract	p. 47
Introduction	p. 48
Objectives	p. 50
Sediment and Water Indicators	p. 50
Criteria for Selecting Sediment and Water Indicators	p. 50
Recommended Indicators	p. 52
Sediment-Based Indicators	p. 55
Total Hg Concentration in Sediment	p. 55
MeHg Concentration in Sediment	p. 57
Percent MeHg in Sediment	p. 63
Instantaneous Methylation Rate	p. 64
Sediment Hg Accumulation Rates in Dated Cores	p. 65
Water-Based Indicators	p. 69
Total Hg in Water	p. 70
MeHg in Water	p. 75
Monitoring Strategy	p. 78
Ancillary Data	p. 80
Anticipated Response Times	p. 81
Acknowledgments	p. 82
References	p. 82
Monitoring and Evaluating Trends in Methylmercury Accumulation in Aquatic Biota	p. 87
Abstract	p. 87
Introduction	p. 88
Objectives	p. 89
Aquatic Biological Indicators	p. 90
Criteria to Select Indicators	p. 90
Candidate Aquatic Biological Indicators	p. 91
Fish	p. 92
Benthic Invertebrates	p. 95
Zooplankton	p. 97
Phytoplankton	p. 98
Periphyton	p. 99
Recommended Aquatic Biological Indicators	p. 100
Monitoring and Trend Analysis	p. 104
Ancillary Data	p. 107
Interpretation of Trend-Monitoring Data	p. 108
Sources of Variation and Potential Confounding Factors	p. 108
Steps to Constrain Confounding Factors and Enhance Interpretation	p. 110
Acknowledgments	p. 113
References	p. 113
Wildlife Indicators	p. 123
Abstract	p. 123
Introduction	p. 124
Objectives	p. 124
Issues of Concern	p. 127
Geographical and Habitat Differences	p. 127
Methodological Issues	p. 130
Host Factors	p. 131
Bioavailability	p. 132
Toxicokinetics and Toxicodynamics	p. 132
Types of Bioindicators	p. 133
Indicators of Exposure	p. 133
Indicators of Effect	p. 133
Candidate Bioindicator Species	p. 134
Mammals	p. 134
Mink (Mustela vison)	p. 134
River Otter (Lontra canadensis)	p. 134
Raccoon (Procyon lotor)	p. 135
Bats	p. 135
Marine Mammals	p. 136
Birds	p. 137
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)	p. 137
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)	p. 137
Common Loon (Gavia immer)	p. 138
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)	p. 138
Seabirds	p. 139
Insectivorous Birds	p. 141
Reptiles and Amphibians	p. 142
Reptiles	p. 142
Amphibians	p. 143
Other Potential Indicators	p. 146
Albatrosses	p. 146
Hawks	p. 146
Identification of Indicators through Development of Water Quality Criteria for Wildlife	p. 146
Tissue and Other Samples	p. 147
Hair	p. 147
Feathers	p. 148
Eggs	p. 149
Organs	p. 149
Blood	p. 149
Brain	p. 149
Liver	p. 150
Muscle	p. 150
Kidney	p. 151
Physiological, Cellular, and Molecular Biomarkers	p. 151
What Is in the Pipeline? Future and Promising Biomarkers	p. 152
Elements of a Biomonitoring Framework	p. 158
Monitoring Design Considerations	p. 158
Trend Detection: The Florida Everglades Case Study	p. 161
Retrospective Studies	p. 162
Prospective Studies	p. 162
Recommended Wildlife Indicators	p. 163
Acknowledgments	p. 165
References	p. 166
An Integrated Framework for Ecological Mercury Assessments	p. 191
Introduction	p. 191
Recurring Themes	p. 192
Design of the Monitoring Network	p. 193
Criteria for Selection of Indicators	p. 195
Considerations for Sampling	p. 196
Sampling Scale	p. 199
Sampling Location	p. 201
Sampling Frequency	p. 202
Overall Duration of Sampling	p. 202
Monitoring for Trends and Monitoring for Causality	p. 203
Integration of Monitoring with Modeling Capabilities	p. 203
Complexities/Confounding Factors	p. 205
Recommendations	p. 205
References	p. 206
Index	p. 209
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