title: Mercury Distribution Along the Food Chain of a Wetland Ecosystem at Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China.
abstract: Concentrations of total mercury (T-Hg) and methylmercury (MeHg) in a wetland food chain were determined at Majuan Island of the Sanjiang Plain in China. Four tissues (muscle, liver, kidney and brain) of three waterbird species (great cormorant, grey heron and great egret), muscle tissues of fish (grass carp, crucian carp and longnose gudgeon), insects (predacious diving beetle), aquatic plants (ditch reed) and soil were analyzed. The mean concentrations of T-Hg were 0.392 ± 0.237 mg/kg for tissues of all juveniles, 1.999 ± 2.053 mg/kg for great cormorant adults, and 0.029 ± 0.019 mg/kg for fish muscle, respectively. While the relative contents of T-Hg of insects, plants and sediments were 0.012 ± 0.002, 0.006 ± 0.001 and 0.020 ± 0.002 mg/kg, respectively. Bioaccumulation of Hg along the wetland food chain may be able to show the current situation of Hg contamination in remote regions of East Asia.
authors.affiliation: College of Wildlife Resource, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150040, China.
authors.forename: Ma
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhilong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, 130000, China.
authors.forename: Wang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qiang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, 130000, China.
authors.forename: Zhang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhongsheng
authors.affiliation: College of Wildlife Resource, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150040, China. xuehong_zhou2012@126.com.
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xuehong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000378:metabolism; D002681:China; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005399:Fishes / Q000378:metabolism; D020387:Food Chain; D007313:Insecta / Q000378:metabolism; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D008767:Methylmercury Compounds / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D053833:Wetlands
chemical_list: D008767:Methylmercury Compounds; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008628:Mercury
keywords: Bioaccumulation; Fish; Food chain; Waterbird