Stable Isotope (N, C, Hg) Study of Methylmercury Sources and Trophic Transfer in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
- 27 January 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Environmental Science & Technology
- Vol. 44 (5), 1630-1637
- https://doi.org/10.1021/es902361j
Abstract
We combined N, C, and Hg stable isotope measurements to identify the most important factors that influence MeHg accumulation in fish from the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM), and to determine if coastal species residing in the Mississippi River (MR) plume and migratory oceanic species derive their MeHg from the same, or different, sources. In six coastal species and two oceanic species (blackfin and yellowfin tuna), trophic position as measured by δ15N explained most of the variance in log[MeHg] (r2 ∼ 0.8), but coastal species and tuna fell along distinct, nearly parallel lines with significantly different intercepts. The tuna also had significantly higher δ202Hg (0.2−0.5‰) and Δ201Hg (∼1.5‰) than the coastal fish (δ202Hg = 0 to −1.0‰; Δ201Hg ∼0.4‰). The observations can be best explained by largely disconnected food webs rooted in different baseline δ15N signatures (MR-plume vs oceanic) and isotopically distinct MeHg sources, with oceanic MeHg having undergone substantial photodegradation (∼50%) before entering the base of the food web. Given the MR’s large, productive footprint in the nGOM and the potential for exporting prey and MeHg to the adjacent oligotrophic GOM, the disconnected food webs and different MeHg sources are consistent with recent evidence in other systems of important oceanic MeHg sources.Keywords
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