Title: Mercury loading in estuarine food webs in relation to nitrogen loading
Duration: July 2011-October 2017
Funding Source: WHOI Sea Grant
Lead Investigator: John Logan
Affiliation: Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
Contact: john.logan@mass.gov
Description: This project seeks to understand the relationship between eutrophication and mercury bioaccumulation in estuarine
food webs. Recent work has shown elevated mercury concentrations in groundwater entering estuaries in Cape Cod,
Massachusetts, possibly due to mobilization mediated by eutrophication. To assess the extent of mercury transfer from
groundwater to aquatic food webs and test the proposed relationship with eutrophication, we are sampling
representative estuarine biota from Waquoit Bay and three neighboring estuaries with different nitrogen loads. We plan
to relate mercury concentrations to nitrogen loading as well as trophic interactions using stable isotope tracers.
