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Changes in Sport Fish Mercury Concentrations from Food Web Shifts Suggest Partial Decoupling from Atmospheric Deposition in Two Colorado Reservoirs

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Abstract

Partial decoupling of mercury (Hg) loading and observed Hg concentrations ([Hg]) in biotic and abiotic samples has been documented in aquatic systems. We studied two Colorado reservoirs to test whether shifts in prey for sport fish would lead to changes in [Hg] independent of external atmospheric Hg deposition. We compared sport fish total mercury concentrations ([T-Hg]) and macroinvertebrate (chironomids and crayfish) methylmercury concentrations ([MeHg]) before and after food web shifts occurred in both reservoirs. We also monitored wet atmospheric Hg deposition and sediment [T-Hg] and [MeHg] at each reservoir. We found rapid shifts in Hg bioaccumulation in each reservoir’s sport fish, and these changes could not be attributed to atmospheric Hg deposition. Our study shows that trends in atmospheric deposition, environmental samples (e.g., sediments), and samples of species at the low trophic levels (e.g., chironomids and crayfish) may not accurately reflect conditions that result in fish consumption advisories for high trophic level sport fish. We suggest that in the short-term, monitoring fish [Hg] is necessary to adequately protect human health because natural and anthropogenic perturbations to aquatic food-webs that affect [Hg] in sport fish will continue regardless of trends in atmospheric deposition.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this study came from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Water Quality Control Division, Nonpoint Source Program through a Clean Water Act Section 319 assistance Grant C9-99818610 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The authors thank Dr. Chris Shade and Nathan Brady of Quicksilver Scientific Laboratory for technical assistance and field support, respectively. They also thank Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists, Kurt Davies and Kyle Battige, for field assistance, Bill Pate of the Colorado State University Fisheries Ecology Laboratory for field and laboratory support, William Clements of Colorado State University, and the anonymous reviewers from this journal for providing insightful critiques.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, 1474 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    Brian A. Wolff & Brett M. Johnson

  2. New York Sea Grant Extension, SUNY Oswego, Oswego, NY, 13126, USA

    Jesse M. Lepak

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  1. Brian A. Wolff
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  2. Brett M. Johnson
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Correspondence to Brian A. Wolff.

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Wolff, B.A., Johnson, B.M. & Lepak, J.M. Changes in Sport Fish Mercury Concentrations from Food Web Shifts Suggest Partial Decoupling from Atmospheric Deposition in Two Colorado Reservoirs. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 72, 167–177 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-016-0353-x

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