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The Movement of Aquatic Mercury Through Terrestrial Food Webs

Article  in  Science · May 2008

DOI: 10.1126/science.1154082 · Source: PubMed

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 BREVIA
fish, 0.15 ± 0.09 ppm, n = 18), consistent with our
observation that some terrestrial songbirds had
higher mercury levels than fish-eating kingfishers.
The Movement of Aquatic Mercury These results show that any risk from mercury
faced by the river’s aquatic birds exists for birds in
Through Terrestrial Food Webs adjacent terrestrial habitats as well. By preying on
predatory invertebrates such as spiders, songbirds
Daniel A. Cristol,* Rebecka L. Brasso, Anne M. Condon, Rachel E. Fovargue, Scott L. Friedman, increased the length of their food chains, increasing
Kelly K. Hallinger, Adrian P. Monroe, Ariel E. White the opportunity for biomagnification. To assess the
potential risk of aquatic mercury moving into terres-
ercury is a persistent contaminant that posure; mercury can only enter feathers while they are trial food webs, it is imperative to determine whether

M biomagnifies up the food web, caus-

ing mortality, reproductive failure, and
other health effects in predatory wildlife and
growing and connected to the blood supply. Wrens
(Thyrothorus ludovicianus) averaged 8.76 ± 6.46
(SD) ppm (n = 6), compared with 5.63 ± 2.12 ppm
the methylmercury we observed in predatory in-
vertebrates was transported directly to the terrestrial
food web by emergent aquatic insects or had been
humans (1, 2). From 1930 to 1950, industrial mer- for owls (n = 5) and 2.38 ± 1.31 ppm for woodpeckers deposited on the floodplain during historical floods.
curic sulfate entered the South River, a tributary of (n = 10), all about twice the level of blood mercury.
References and Notes
the Shenandoah River in Virginia (United States) We collected prey delivered to nestlings of three 1. A. M. Scheuhammer, M. W. Meyer, M. B. Sandheinrich,
(3). To determine whether this mercury contamina- songbird species at all of the contaminated study M. W. Murray, Ambio 36, 12 (2007).

Downloaded from www.sciencemag.org on April 18, 2008

tion had moved into the adjacent terrestrial food sites. None of the diet items was aquatic in origin. 2. D. Mergler et al., Ambio 36, 3 (2007).
web, we analyzed total mercury concentrations in The most prevalent items in all three bird species’ 3. L. J. Carter, Science 198, 1015 (1977).
4. Materials and methods are available on Science Online.
blood from adults of 13 terrestrial-feeding bird diets were members of the orders Araneae (spiders), 5. D. Evers et al., Ecotoxicology 17, 69 (2008).
species breeding within 50 m of the river (4). We Lepidoptera (moths or caterpillars), and Orthopterae 6. T. A. Haines, T. W. May, R. T. Finlayson, S. E.
compared these to breeding adults of the same (grasshoppers). Together these comprised >80% of Mierzykowski, Environ. Monit. Assess. 86, 211 (2003).
species at uncontaminated reference sites (Fig. 1A). the biomass (fresh weight) delivered to nestlings (Fig. 7. Funded by E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Company, Vice
Provost for Research of College of William and Mary, and NSF
Twelve species had significantly higher mercury 1C). All three terrestrial birds ate diets of ~20 to 30% UBM 0436318. J. Schmerfeld, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
than that found in individuals from reference sites spider biomass. Average total mercury concentration suggested the study, R. Taylor analyzed avian mercury, and
(Fig. 1B and table S1). We simultaneously sampled in spiders (n = 101) was 1.24 ± 1.47 ppm dry weight, C. Shade analyzed methylmercury. We thank A. Arkhipov,
adults of five bird species with direct dietary con- compared with only 0.38 ± 2.08 ppm for lepidop- D. Hawley, S. Hoskin, M. Howie, R. Jefferson-George,
S. Koebley, M. Leandre, L. Savoy, J. Spahr, and C. Ziegenfus
nections to the aquatic mercury; their mercury con- terans (n = 137) and 0.31 ± 1.22 ppm for orthopterans
for fieldwork and D. Evers, T. Meier, M. Newman, and the
centrations were also significantly elevated relative (n = 50). Invertebrates collected similarly on reference entire South River Science Team for logistical support.
to reference birds (Fig. 1B and table S1). With the sites contained negligible mercury (spiders, 0.05 ± Supporting Online Material
exception of a duck species, all aquatic birds had 0.03 ppm, n = 25; lepidopterans, 0.02 ± 0.64 ppm, www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5874/335/DC1
blood mercury ranging from 2 to 4 parts per million n = 20; orthopterans, all below detection limit, n = 6). Materials and Methods
(ppm) (wet weight), about the level of adverse ef- Much of the mercury in the spiders was in the Table S1
References
fects (5). Two terrestrial songbirds species, a wren form of highly bioavailable methylmercury (49 ±
and a vireo, had the highest blood mercury levels of 21%, n = 30), whereas invertebrates lower in the 12 December 2007; accepted 19 February 2008
10.1126/science.1154082
any species, and a majority of terrestrial-feeding birds food web had less methylmercury (lepidopterans
were in the same range as aquatic-feeding species. 24 ± 20%, n = 22; orthopterans 38 ± 24%, n = 35),
Institute for Integrative Bird Behavior Studies, Department of
We simultaneously sampled feathers of three non- consistent with other reports (6). The spiders at our Biology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23185,
migratory terrestrial species that had molted locally study site had higher total mercury than fish col- USA.
about a year earlier. Whereas blood mercury reflects lected from kingfishers at the site (contaminated *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
recent dietary intake, feathers indicate cumulative ex- fish 0.73 ± 1.76 ppm dry weight, n = 21; reference dacris@wm.edu

A B C
80
7 Percent of total
70 Hg recovered
Percent of Diet
6 60 (measured as
Total blood mercury (ppm)

grams wet weight)

50
Percent

5
40
4 30

20
3
10
2 0
Aranea Lepidoptera Orthoptera Other
1

0
Aquatic Terrestrial
Source of diet

Fig. 1. (A) Map of study sites in which red circles indicate contaminated aquatic (blue) or terrestrial (green) organisms. Black squares are average mercury
collection sites and green squares indicate uncontaminated sites. Arrow indicates levels for same species at reference sites. (C) Percentage of diet composed of each
mercury source. (B) Mean blood mercury for bird species primarily feeding on prey type (blue diamonds) and mercury intake (red bars) for two wren species.

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