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Publications

Below are publications from the Mercury lab.

Filter Total Items: 180

In-reservoir physical processes modulate aqueous and biological methylmercury export from a seasonally anoxic reservoir

Anoxic conditions within reservoirs related to thermal stratification and oxygen depletion lead to methylmercury (MeHg) production, a key process governing the uptake of mercury in aquatic food webs. Once formed within a reservoir, the timing and magnitude of the biological uptake of MeHg and the relative importance of MeHg export in water versus biological compartments remain poorly understood. W
Authors
Austin K. Baldwin, Collin Eagles-Smith, James Willacker, Brett Poulin, David P. Krabbenhoft, Jesse Naymik, Michael T. Tate, Dain Bates, Nick Gastelecutto, Charles Hoovestol, Christopher F. Larsen, Alysa Muir Yoder, James A. Chandler, Ralph Myers

Assessment of mercury in sediments and waters of Grubers Grove Bay, Wisconsin

Mercury is a global contaminant that can be detrimental to wildlife and human health. Anthropogenic emissions and point sources are primarily responsible for elevated mercury concentrations in sediments and waters. Mercury can physically move and chemically transform in the environment, resulting in biomagnification of mercury, in the form of methylmercury, in the food web and causing elevated mer
Authors
Evan J. Routhier, Sarah E. Janssen, Michael T. Tate, Jacob M. Ogorek, John F. DeWild, David P. Krabbenhoft

Decadal trends of mercury cycling and bioaccumulation within Everglades National Park

Mercury (Hg) contamination has been a persistent concern in the Florida Everglades for over three decades due to elevated atmospheric deposition and the system's propensity for methylation and rapid bioaccumulation. Given declines in atmospheric Hg concentrations in the conterminous United States and efforts to mitigate nutrient release to the greater Everglades ecosystem, it was vital to assess h
Authors
Sarah E. Janssen, Michael T. Tate, Brett Poulin, David P. Krabbenhoft, John F DeWild, Jacob M. Ogorek, Matthew S. Varonka, William H. Orem, Jeffrey D Kline

Methylmercury stable isotopes: New insights on assessing aquatic food web bioaccumulation in legacy impacted regions

Through stable isotope measurements of total mercury (HgT), identification of crucial processes and transformations affecting different sources of mercury (Hg) has become possible. However, attempting to use HgT stable isotopes to track bioaccumulation of Hg sources among different food web compartments can be challenging, if not impossible, when tissues have varying methylmercury (MeHg) contents.
Authors
Tylor Rosera, Sarah E. Janssen, Michael T. Tate, Ryan F. Lepak, Jacob M. Ogorek, John F. DeWild, David P. Krabbenhoft, James P. Hurley

Using carbon, nitrogen, and mercury isotope values to distinguish mercury sources to Alaskan lake trout

Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), collected from 13 remote lakes located in southwestern Alaska, were analyzed for carbon, nitrogen, and mercury (Hg) stable isotope values to assess the importance of migrating oceanic salmon, volcanic activity, and atmospheric deposition to fish Hg burden. Methylmercury (MeHg) bioaccumulation in phytoplankton (5.0–6.9 kg L–1) was also measured to quantify the bas
Authors
Ryan F. Lepak, Jacob M. Ogorek, Krista K. Bartz, Sarah E. Janssen, Michael T. Tate, Yin Runsheng, James P. Hurley, Daniel B. Young, Collin Eagles-Smith, David P. Krabbenhoft

Mercury isotope fractionation by internal demethylation and biomineralization reactions in seabirds: Implications for environmental mercury science

A prerequisite for environmental and toxicological applications of mercury (Hg) stable isotopes in wildlife and humans is quantifying the isotopic fractionation of biological reactions. Here, we measured stable Hg isotope values of relevant tissues of giant petrels (Macronectes spp.). Isotopic data were interpreted with published HR-XANES spectroscopic data that document a stepwise transformation
Authors
Alain Manceau, Romain Brossier, Sarah E. Janssen, Tylor Rosera, David P. Krabbenhoft, Yves Cherel, Paco Bustamante, Brett Poulin

Demethylation of methylmercury in bird, fish, and earthworm

Toxicity of methylmercury (MeHg) to wildlife and humans results from its binding to cysteine residues of proteins, forming MeHg-cysteinate (MeHgCys) complexes that hinder biological functions. MeHgCys complexes can be detoxified in vivo, yet how this occurs is unknown. We report that MeHgCys complexes are transformed into selenocysteinate (Hg(Sec)4) complexes in multiple animals from two phyla (a
Authors
Alain Manceau, Jean-Paul Bourdineaud, Ricardo B. Oliveira, Sandra LF Sarrazin, David P. Krabbenhoft, Collin Eagles-Smith, Josh T. Ackerman, Robin Stewart, Christian Ward-Deitrich, M Estela del Castillo Busto, Heidi Goenaga-Infante, Aude Wack, Marius Retegan, Blanka Detlefs, Pieter Glatzel, Paco Bustamante, Kathryn L. Nagy, Brett Poulin

Isotope fractionation from In Vivo methylmercury detoxification in waterbirds

The robust application of stable mercury (Hg) isotopes for mercury source apportionment and risk assessment necessitates the understanding of mass-dependent fractionation (MDF) due to internal transformations within organisms. Here, we used high energy-resolution XANES spectroscopy and isotope ratios of total mercury (δ202THg) and methylmercury (δ202MeHg) to elucidate the chemical speciation of Hg
Authors
Brett Poulin, Sarah Elizabeth Janssen, Tylor Rosera, David P. Krabbenhoft, Collin Eagles-Smith, Josh T. Ackerman, Robin Stewart, Eunhee Kim, Zofia Baumann, Jeong-Hoon Kim, Alain Manceau

Examining historical mercury sources in the Saint Louis River estuary: How legacy contamination influences biological mercury levels in Great Lakes coastal regions

Industrial chemical contamination within coastal regions of the Great Lakes can pose serious risks to wetland habitat and offshore fisheries, often resulting in fish consumption advisories that directly affect human and wildlife health. Mercury (Hg) is a contaminant of concern in many of these highly urbanized and industrialized coastal regions, one of which is the Saint Louis River estuary (SLRE)
Authors
Sarah E. Janssen, Joel C. Hoffman, Ryan F. Lepak, David P. Krabbenhoft, David Walters, Collin Eagles-Smith, Greg Peterson, Jacob M. Ogorek, John F. DeWild, Anne M Cotter, Mark Pearson, Michael T. Tate, Roger B. Yeardley, Marc A. Mills

Surface-air mercury fluxes and a watershed mass balance in forested and harvested catchments

Forest soils are among the world’s largest repositories for long-term accumulation of atmospherically deposited mercury (Hg), and understanding the potential for remobilization through gaseous emissions, aqueous dissolution and runoff, or erosive particulate transport to down-gradient aquatic ecosystems is critically important for projecting ecosystem recovery. Forestry operations, especially clea
Authors
Chris S. Eckley, Collin Eagles-Smith, Michael T. Tate, David P. Krabbenhoft

Long-term trends in regional wet mercury deposition and lacustrine mercury concentrations in four lakes in Voyageurs National Park

Although anthropogenic mercury (Hg) releases to the environment have been substantially lowered in the United States and Canada since 1990, concerns remain for contamination in fish from remote lakes and rivers where atmospheric deposition is the predominant source of mercury. How have aquatic ecosystems responded? We report on one of the longest known multimedia data sets for mercury in atmospher
Authors
Mark E. Brigham, David D. VanderMeulen, Collin Eagles-Smith, David P. Krabbenhoft, Ryan P. Maki, John F. DeWild

The influence of legacy contamination on the transport and bioaccumulation of mercury within the Mobile River Basin

Past industrial use and subsequent release of mercury (Hg) into the environment have resulted in severe cases of legacy contamination that still influence contemporary Hg levels in biota. While the bioaccumulation of legacy Hg is commonly assessed via concentration measurements within fish tissue, this practice becomes difficult in regions of high productivity and methylmercury (MeHg) production,
Authors
Sarah E. Janssen, Michael T. Tate, David P. Krabbenhoft, John F. DeWild, Jacob M. Ogorek, Christopher L. Babiarz, Anthony Sowers, Peter L. Tuttle