Factors Controlling the Food Chain Accumulation And Transfer of Inorganic and Methylmercury
in Chesapeake Bay Organisms
How do toxic contaminants like mercury pass through the Bay's food web? To help provide answers, this project will focus on the base of the food chain, describing how mercury and methylmercury move through both bottom-dwelling (benthic) organisms and free-swimming (pelagic) ones. The researchers will examine how algae and zooplankton assimilate different forms of mercury, and explore how the chemistry of both water and bottom sediments affect the uptake of these compounds. They will then determine how mercury might move from these primary consumers to the fish that feed higher up the food chain.
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Robert P. Mason and David A. Wright
UMCES Chesapeake Biological Laboratory
University System of Maryland
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