Hu, Haiyan and Wang, Baolin and Bravo, Andrea G. and Bjorn, Erik and Skyllberg, Ulf and Amouroux, David and Tessier, Emmanuel and Zopfi, Jakob and Feng, Xinbin and Bishop, Kevin and Nilsson, Mats and Bertilsson, Stefan
(2020).
Shifts in mercury methylation across a peatland chronosequence: From sulfate reduction to methanogenesis and syntrophy.
Journal of Hazardous Materials. 387
, 1-9
[Research article]
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Abstract
Peatlands are globally important ecosystems where inorganic mercury is converted to bioaccumulating and highly toxic methylmercury, resulting in high risks of methylmercury exposure in adjacent aquatic ecosystems. Although biological mercury methylation has been known for decades, there is still a lack of knowledge about the organisms involved in mercury methylation and the drivers controlling their methylating capacity. In order to investigate the metabolisms responsible for mercury methylation and methylmercury degradation as well as the controls of both processes, we studied a chronosequence of boreal peatlands covering fundamentally different biogeochemical conditions. Potential mercury methylation rates decreased with peatland age, being up to 53 times higher in the youngest peatland compared to the oldest. Methylation in young mires was driven by sulfate reduction, while methanogenic and syntrophic metabolisms became more important in older systems. Demethylation rates were also highest in young wetlands, with a gradual shift from biotic to abiotic methylmercury degradation along the chronosequence. Our findings reveal how metabolic shifts drive mercury methylation and its ratio to demethylation as peatlands age.
Authors/Creators: | Hu, Haiyan and Wang, Baolin and Bravo, Andrea G. and Bjorn, Erik and Skyllberg, Ulf and Amouroux, David and Tessier, Emmanuel and Zopfi, Jakob and Feng, Xinbin and Bishop, Kevin and Nilsson, Mats and Bertilsson, Stefan | ||||||
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Title: | Shifts in mercury methylation across a peatland chronosequence: From sulfate reduction to methanogenesis and syntrophy | ||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Journal of Hazardous Materials | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2020 | ||||||
Volume: | 387 | ||||||
Page range: | 1-9 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 9 | ||||||
Publisher: | Elsevier | ||||||
ISSN: | 0304-3894 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Research article | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 105 Earth and Related Environmental Sciences > Environmental Sciences (social aspects to be 507) | ||||||
Keywords: | Mercury, Methylation, Demethylation, Peatland, Chronosequence | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-104966 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-104966 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 16808 | ||||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap S - Faculty of Forest Sciences | ||||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment (S) > Dept. of Forest Ecology and Management | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 27 Apr 2020 13:24 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 15 Jan 2021 19:22 |
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