Publication Date:
2023-12-13
Description:
Among-lake variation in mercury (Hg) concentrations in landlocked Arctic char was examined in 27 char populations from remote lakes across the Canadian Arctic. A total of 520 landlocked Arctic char were collected from 27 lakes, as well as sediments and surface water from a subset of lakes in 1999, 2002, and 2005 to 2007. Size, length, age, and trophic position (d15N) of individual char were determined and relationships with total Hg (THg) concentrations investigated, to identify a common covariate for adjustment using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). A subset of 216 char from 24 populations was used for spatial comparison, after length-adjustment. The influence of trophic position and food web length and abiotic characteristics such as location, geomorphology, lake area, catchment area, catchment-to-lake area ratio of the lakes on adjusted THg concentrations in char muscle tissue were then evaluated. Arctic char from Amituk Lake (Cornwallis Island) had the highest Hg concentrations (1.31 µg/g wet wt), while Tessisoak Lake (Labrador, 0.07 µg/g wet wt) had the lowest. Concentrations of THg were positively correlated with size, d15N, and age, respectively, in 88,71, and 58% of 24 char populations. Length and d15N were correlated in 67% of 24 char populations. Food chain length did not explain the differences in length-adjusted THg concentrations in char. No relationships between adjusted THg concentrations in char and latitude or longitude were found, however, THg concentrations in char showed a positive correlation with catchment-to-lake area ratio. Furthermore, we conclude that inputs from the surrounding environment may influence THg concentrations, and will ultimately affect THg concentrations in char as a result of predicted climate-driven changes that may occur in Arctic lake watersheds.
Keywords:
Area/locality; Baffin Island; Biological sample; BIOS; Continuous Flow Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (CF/IRMS); Cornwallis Island, Nunavut, Canada; Direct Mercury Analyser DMA (Milestone Instruments); EIs_lake_D; EIs_lake_F; EIs_lake_G; Ellesmere Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago; Event label; International Polar Year (2007-2008); IPY; Kent Peninsula, Nunavut; Kent Peninsula, Nunavut, Canada; Labrador; Lake; Lake_12_Mile; Lake_9_Mile; Lake_Amituk; Lake_Aquiatusuk; Lake_Boomerang; Lake_Char; Lake_Coadys_Pond; Lake_Desert; Lake_Gavia_Faeces; Lake_Hazen; Lake_Herbert; Lake_Keyhole; Lake_Laflamme; Lake_Little_Nauyuk; Lake_Meretta; Lake_North; Lake_Notgordie; Lake_Pingualuk; Lake_Radar; Lake_Resolute; Lake_Small; Lake_Tasialuk; Lake_Teardrop; Lake_Tessisoak; Latitude of event; Longitude of event; Melville Island; Mercury; Mercury, standard deviation; Otholith analysis; Salvelinus alpinus; Salvelinus alpinus, age; Salvelinus alpinus, fork length; Salvelinus alpinus, mass; Salvelinus alpinus, standard deviation; Salvelinus alpinus, δ13C, tissue; Salvelinus alpinus, δ15N, tissue; Somerset Island; Time coverage; Ungava Peninsula, Nunavik; Victoria Island, North West Territories, Canada; Yukon, Alaska, U.S.A., North America
Type:
Dataset
Format:
text/tab-separated-values, 418 data points
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