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1. Regional variation in fish mercury

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-01062-2  

   Schartup, Amina T; Choy, C Anela (October 2024, Nature Food)

   The bioaccumulation of methylmercury in fish and its biomagnification through the food chain is a major public health concern. Differences in fish methylmercury concentration observed between China and the United States highlight the need for a better understanding of region-specific factors that drive its formation and biological uptake. 

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2. New Approaches to Understand Mercury in Trees: Radial and Longitudinal Patterns of Mercury in Tree Rings and Genetic Control of Mercury in Maple Sap

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-020-04601-2  

   Yanai, Ruth D.; Yang, Yang; Wild, Adam D.; Smith, Kevin T.; Driscoll, Charles T. (May 2020, Water, Air, & Soil Pollution)

   null (Ed.)
3. Observed in-plume gaseous elemental mercury depletion suggests significant mercury scavenging by volcanic aerosols

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D3EA00063J  

   Koenig, Alkuin M.; Magand, Olivier; Rose, Clemence; Di Muro, Andrea; Miyazaki, Yuzo; Colomb, Aurelie; Rissanen, Matti; Lee, Christopher F.; Koenig, Theodore K.; Volkamer, Rainer; et al (October 2023, Environmental Science: Atmospheres)

   Terrestrial volcanism is known to emit mercury (Hg) into the atmosphere. However, despite many years of investigation, its net impact on the atmospheric Hg budget remains insufficiently constrained, in part because the transformations of Hg in volcanic plumes as they age and mix with background air are poorly understood. Here we report the observation of complete gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) depletion events in dilute and moderately aged (∼3–7 hours) volcanic plumes from Piton de la Fournaise on Réunion Island. While it has been suggested that co-emitted bromine could, once photochemically activated, deplete GEM in a volcanic plume, we measured low bromine concentrations in both the gas- and particle-phase and observed complete GEM depletion even before sunrise, ruling out a leading role of bromine chemistry here. Instead, we hypothesize that the GEM depletions were mainly caused by gas–particle interactions with sulfate-rich volcanic particles (mostly of submicron size), abundantly present in the dilute plume. We consider heterogeneous GEM oxidation and GEM uptake by particles as plausible manifestations of such a process and derive empirical rate constants. By extrapolation, we estimate that volcanic aerosols may scavenge 210 Mg y−1 (67–480 Mg y−1) of Hg from the atmosphere globally, acting effectively as atmospheric mercury sink. While this estimate is subject to large uncertainties, it highlights that Hg transformations in aging volcanic plumes must be better understood to determine the net impact of volcanism on the atmospheric Hg budget and Hg deposition pathways. 

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4. Mercury speciation and stable isotopes in emperor penguins: First evidence for biochemical demethylation of methylmercury to mercury-dithiolate and mercury-tetraselenolate complexes

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.136499  

   Manceau, Alain; Bustamante, Paco; Richy, Etienne; Cherel, Yves; Janssen, Sarah E; Glatzel, Pieter; Poulin, Brett A (March 2025, Journal of Hazardous Materials)
5. Aqueous Elemental Mercury Production versus Mercury Inventories in the Lake Michigan Airshed: Deciphering the Spatial and Diel Controls of Mercury Gradients in Air and Water

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.0c00187  

   Lepak, Ryan F.; Tate, Michael T.; Ogorek, Jacob M.; DeWild, John F.; Peterson, Benjamin D.; Hurley, James P.; Krabbenhoft, David P. (January 2020, ACS ES&T Water)

   null (Ed.)

   Atmospheric delivery of mercury (Hg) is important to the Upper Great Lakes, and understanding gaseous Hg exchange between surface water and air is critical to predicting the effects of declining mercury emissions. Speciated atmospheric Hg, dissolved gaseous Hg (DGM), and particulate and filter passing total Hg were measured on a cruise in Lake Michigan. Low mercury levels reflected pristine background conditions, especially in offshore regions. In the atmosphere, reactive and particle-associated fractions were low (1.0 ± 0.5%) compared to gaseous elemental Hg (1.34 ± 0.14 ng m–3) and were elevated in the urbanized southern basin. DGM was supersaturated, ranging from 17.5 ± 4.8 pg L–1 (330 ± 80%) in the main lake to 33.2 ± 2.4 pg L–1 (730 ± 70%) in Green Bay. Diel cycling of surface DGM showed strong Hg efflux during the day due to increased winds, and build-up at night from continued DGM production. Epilimnetic DGM is formed from photochemical reduction, while hypolimnetic DGM originates from biological Hg reduction. We found that DGM concentrations were greatest below the thermocline (30.8 ± 13.6 pg L–1), accounting for 68–92% of the total DGM in Lake Michigan, highlighting the importance of nonphotochemical reduction in deep stratified lakes. 

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