Toxic Mercury in Aquatic Ecosystems -- Why Quality Trumps Quantity

USGS scientist Mark Marvin-DiPasquale, a microbial ecologist, gave a free public lecture on "Toxic Mercury in Aquatic Ecosystems -- Why Quality Trumps Quantity," Menlo Park, California, September 29, 2005. The lecture covered several topics.

• Different mercury sources generate different forms of mercury with different environmental consequences
• Learn how mercury is transported and transformed in air and water, and how it ultimately accumulates as toxic methylmercury in wildlife and humans
• How do mercury-methylating bacteria react with "new" mercury from atmospheric deposition and with "old" mercury from remobilized sediments?
• Why are fish in Florida’s Everglades as contaminated with mercury as those in San Francisco Bay, even though total mercury inputs are much higher in the Bay?
• How do differences in landscape and vegetation type affect mercury cycling and bioaccumulation pathways?

More Information on the Lecture

• USGS Western Region Evening Public Lecture Series
• Flyer (pdf)
• Lecture Video ** (wmv)

More Information on Mercury in Aquatic Ecosystems

• Nationwide Examination of Mercury Levels in the Food Chain
• USGS National Mercury Research Laboratory
• Aquatic Cycling of Mercury in the Everglades (ACME)
• Minerals Information: Mercury, Statistics and Information
• Additional Mercury Research in the USGS

Related Headlines

• USGS Mobile Atmospheric Mercury Laboratory Makes an Impact
• National Fish Mercury Model Available On-Line
• OSTP Report on Methylmercury in the Gulf of Mexico
• Glacial Ice Cores Reveal the History of Global Mercury Contamination
• Mercury-Contaminated Fish--Is it Old or New Mercury?

USGS Mercury Fact Sheets

• Glacial Ice Cores Reveal A Record of Natural and Anthropogenic Atmospheric Mercury Deposition for the Last 270 Years: USGS Fact Sheet FS-051-02
• Mercury Contamination of Aquatic Ecosystems: USGS Fact Sheet FS-216-95
• Mercury in the Environment: USGS Fact Sheet 146-00
• Mercury Contamination from Historic Gold Mining in California: USGS Fact Sheet FS-061-00
• Mercury and Selenium Poisoning: USGS Fact Sheet 1999-15
• Are walleye from Lake Roosevelt Contaminated with Mercury?: USGS Fact Sheet FS-102-97
• Mercury Studies in the Florida Everglades: USGS Fact Sheet FS-166-96
• Environmental Geochemistry of Mercury Mines in Alaska: USGS Fact Sheet FS-072-94

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** Note: To view the archived video, you will need Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player is already installed on most Windows systems (START:/Programs/Accessories/Multimedia/). Mac and Solaris users can download the required software for free.