Using mercury isotopes to understand the bioaccumulation of Hg in the subtropical Pearl River Estuary, South China

Chemosphere
Run-sheng YinXiang-dong Li

Abstract

Coastal and estuarine regions are important areas of mercury pollution. Therefore, it is important to properly characterize the sources and bioaccumulation processes of mercury in these regions. Here, we present mercury stable isotopic compositions in 18 species of wild marine fish collected from the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), south China. Our results showed variations in mass-independent fractionation (Δ(199)Hg: +0.05 ± 0.10‰ to +0.59 ± 0.30‰) with a Δ(199)Hg/Δ(201)Hg of ∼1.26, suggesting that aqueous MeHg underwent photo-degradation prior to incorporation into the food chain. For the results, we discovered small but significant differences of Δ(199)Hg values among herbivorous, demersal, and carnivorous fish, indicating that different feeding guilds of fish may have incorporated MeHg with various degrees of photo-demethylation. The consistent mercury isotope compositions between fish feeding habitat and mercury sources in the estuary provide potentially important findings on the transformation and bioaccumulation of this toxic metal in subtropical coastal environments.

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Citations

May 29, 2016·The Science of the Total Environment·Patrick M DonovanMartin T K Tsui
Dec 3, 2016·Environmental Pollution·Xiaoyu Xu, Wen-Xiong Wang
May 10, 2017·Environmental Science & Technology·Sarah E RothenbergAlexis Donohue
Aug 10, 2017·Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry·Martin Tsz-Ki TsuiSteven J Balogh
Feb 7, 2019·Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology·Lufeng Chen, Yanbin Li
May 19, 2019·Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology·Haiyu YanMin Jing
Jan 16, 2019·Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology·Qianggong ZhangShichang Kang
Dec 17, 2019·The Science of the Total Environment·Martin Tsz-Ki TsuiSae Yun Kwon
Jun 20, 2018·The Science of the Total Environment·Andrew R C GriggJan G Wiederhold

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