Biodiversity loss in benthic macroinfaunal communities and its consequence for organic mercury trophic availability to benthivorous predators in the lower Hudson River estuary, USA.
Organic mercury such as methylmercury is not only one of the most toxic substances found in coastal ecosystems but also has high trophic transfer efficiency. In this study, we examined implications of chronically altered benthic macroinfaunal assemblages for organic mercury trophic availability (based on organic mercury intracellular partitioning) to their predators in the Arthur Kill-AK (New York, USA). Despite low species diversity, both density and biomass of benthic macroinvertebrates in AK were significantly higher than those at the reference site. Disproportionately high biomass of benthic macroinvertebrates (mostly polychaetes) in the northern AK resulted in a more than twofold increase ('ecological enrichment') in the trophically available organic mercury pool. These results suggest that altered benthic macroinfaunal community structure in AK may play an important role in organic mercury trophic availability at the base of benthic food webs and potentially in mercury biogeochemical cycling in this severely urbanized coastal ecosystem.
Biology Program, Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA. daisukegoto@att.net
Daisuke
D
Goto
William G
WG
Wallace
D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D020387:Food Chain; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D014481:United States; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity
D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008628:Mercury