Mercury contamination threatens biodiversity in the Neotropics

📆 11/14/2023 10:02 PM
📰 physorg_com

⏱ Reading Time:
33 sec. here
14 min. at publisher
📊 Quality Score:
News: 58%
Publisher: 55%

Environment News

Mercury,Contamination,Biodiversity

A study reveals that mercury contamination in the Neotropics poses a threat to biodiversity. The region, which supports over half of the world's species, is facing ongoing land-use change and mercury emissions from artisanal and small-scale gold mining. Birds, as bioindicators, show consistent bioaccumulation of mercury across functional groups. The study establishes exposure baselines for 322 bird species in nine countries across Central America, South America, and the West Indies.

Environmental mercury (Hg) contamination of the global tropics outpaces our understanding of its consequences for biodiversity. Knowledge gaps of pollution exposure could obscure conservation threats in the Neotropics: a region that supports over half of the world’s species, but faces ongoing land-use change and Hg emission via artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM).

Due to their global distribution and sensitivity to pollution, birds provide a valuable opportunity as bioindicators to assess how accelerating Hg emissions impact an ecosystem’s ability to support biodiversity, and ultimately, global health. We present the largest database on Neotropical bird Hg concentrations (= 2316) and establish exposure baselines for 322 bird species spanning nine countries across Central America, South America, and the West Indies. Patterns of avian Hg exposure in the Neotropics broadly align with those in temperate regions: consistent bioaccumulation across functional groups and high spatiotemporal variatio

Write Comment

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

Entertainment Entertainment Latest News, Entertainment Entertainment Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Captain America 4's New Release Date Breaks 14-Year MCU TrendMarvel Studios’ new movie schedule means that Captain America: Brave New World’s release date breaks an MCU trend that has been present for 14 years.
Source: screenrant - 🏆 7. / 94 Read more »

America Ferrera Speaks Out on Latino Representation in FilmIn a speech at the Academy Women’s Luncheon, America Ferrera addresses the issue of Latino representation in the film industry and highlights the underrepresentation of Hispanics and Latinos in movies over the past 16 years.
Source: BreitbartNews - 🏆 610. / 51 Read more »