Molecular composition of organic matter controls methylmercury formation in boreal lakes

A detailed understanding of the formation of the potent neurotoxic methylmercury is needed to explain the large observed variability in methylmercury levels in aquatic systems. While it is known that organic matter interacts strongly with mercury, the role of organic matter composition in the formation of methylmercury in aquatic systems remains poorly understood. Here we show that phytoplankton-derived organic compounds enhance mercury methylation rates in boreal lake sediments through an overall increase of bacterial activity. Accordingly, in situ mercury methylation defines methylmercury levels in lake sediments strongly influenced by planktonic blooms. In contrast, sediments dominated by terrigenous organic matter inputs have far lower methylation rates but higher concentrations of methylmercury, suggesting that methylmercury was formed in the catchment and imported into lakes. Our findings demonstrate that the origin and molecular composition of organic matter are critical parameters to understand and predict methylmercury formation and accumulation in boreal lake sediments. Neurotoxic methylmercury can be found in high levels in aquatic systems, but the role of organic matter in methylmercury formation is not well understood. Here, Bravoet al. show that plankton-derived organic compounds enhance formation rates in boreal lakes.

• Publication year

  2017

• Venue

  Nature Communications

• Publication date

  2017-02-09

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1038/ncomms14255PMID 28181492PMCID 5309796
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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