Interaction of Naturally Occurring Phytoplankton with the Biogeochemical Cycling of Mercury in Aquatic Environments and Its Effects on Global Hg Pollution and Public Health
Loading...
Date
2023-09-14
Authors
Gojkovic, Živan
Šimanský, Samuel
Sanabria, Alain
Márová, Ivana
Garbayo Nores, Ines
Vílchez, Carlos
ORCID
0000-0002-2095-1837Advisor
Referee
Mark
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Altmetrics
Abstract
The biogeochemical cycling of mercury in aquatic environments is a complex process driven by various factors, such as ambient temperature, seasonal variations, methylating bacteria activity, dissolved oxygen levels, and Hg interaction with dissolved organic matter (DOM). As a consequence, part of the Hg contamination from anthropogenic activity that was buried in sediments is reinserted into water columns mainly in highly toxic organic Hg forms (methylmercury, dimethylmercury, etc.). This is especially prominent in the coastal shallow waters of industrial regions worldwide. The main entrance point of these highly toxic Hg forms in the aquatic food web is the naturally occurring phytoplankton. Hg availability, intake, effect on population size, cell toxicity, eventual biotransformation, and intracellular stability in phytoplankton are of the greatest importance for human health, having in mind that such Hg incorporated inside the phytoplankton cells due to biomagnification effects eventually ends up in aquatic wildlife, fish, seafood, and in the human diet. This review summarizes recent findings on the topic of organic Hg form interaction with natural phytoplankton and offers new insight into the matter with possible directions of future research for the prevention of Hg biomagnification in the scope of climate change and global pollution increase scenarios.
Description
Citation
Document type
Peer-reviewed
Document version
Published version
Date of access to the full text
Language of document
en