Amazon forests capture high levels of atmospheric mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining

被引：102

作者：

Gerson, Jacqueline R. ^{[1
,2
]}

Szponar, Natalie ^{[3
]}

Zambrano, Angelica Almeyda ^{[4
]}

Bergquist, Bridget ^{[3
]}

Broadbent, Eben ^{[4
]}

Driscoll, Charles T. ^{[5
]}

Erkenswick, Gideon ^{[6
,7
]}

Evers, David C. ^{[8
]}

Fernandez, Luis E. ^{[9
,10
,11
]}

Hsu-Kim, Heileen ^{[12
]}

Inga, Giancarlo ^{[13
]}

Lansdale, Kelsey N. ^{[14
]}

Marchese, Melissa J. ^{[2
,15
]}

Martinez, Ari ^{[16
]}

Moore, Caroline ^{[13
]}

Pan, William K. ^{[2
,15
]}

Perez Purizaca, Raul ^{[17
]}

Sanchez, Victor ^{[18
]}

Silman, Miles ^{[9
,10
,11
]}

Ury, Emily A. ^{[1
]}

Vega, Claudia ^{[9
,10
,11
]}

Watsa, Mrinalini ^{[7
,13
]}

Bernhardt, Emily S. ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Duke Univ, Dept Biol, Durham, NC 27708 USA

[2] Duke Univ, Duke Global Hlth Inst, Durham, NC 27708 USA

[3] Univ Toronto, Dept Earth Sci, Toronto, ON M5S 3B1, Canada

[4] Univ Florida, Sch Forest Resources & Conservat, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA

[5] Syracuse Univ, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, Syracuse, NY 13244 USA

[6] Washington Univ, Sch Med, Dept Mol Microbiol, St Louis, MO 63110 USA

[7] Field Projects Int, Escondido, CA 92029 USA

[8] Biodivers Res Inst, Portland, ME 04103 USA

[9] Ctr Innovac Cient Amazon CINCIA, Puerto Maldonado, Peru

[10] Wake Forest Univ, Ctr Energy Environm & Sustainabil, Winston Salem, NC 27109 USA

[11] Wake Forest Univ, Dept Biol, Winston Salem, NC 27109 USA

[12] Duke Univ, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, Durham, NC 27708 USA

[13] San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, San Diego, CA 92101 USA

[14] Duke Univ, Environm Sci Program, Durham, NC 27708 USA

[15] Duke Univ, Nicholas Sch Environm, Durham, NC 27708 USA

[16] Calif State Univ Long Beach, Dept Biol Sci, Long Beach, CA 90840 USA

[17] Univ Nacl Piura, Piura, Peru

[18] Inst Invest Ecol & Conservac IIECOO, La Libertad, Peru

来源：

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | 2022年 / 13卷 / 01期

基金：

美国国家科学基金会;

关键词：

NEGRO RIVER-BASIN; PASSIVE AIR SAMPLER; METHYL MERCURY; AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT; METHYLMERCURY; DEPOSITION; FLUXES; SOILS; DEFORESTATION; ACCUMULATION;

D O I：

10.1038/s41467-022-27997-3

中图分类号：

O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];

学科分类号：

07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;

摘要：

The Peruvian Amazon is facing the highest known input of mercury pollution of any ecosystem globally. Intact forests located near artisanal gold mining are particularly at risk from this toxin. Mercury emissions from artisanal and small-scale gold mining throughout the Global South exceed coal combustion as the largest global source of mercury. We examined mercury deposition and storage in an area of the Peruvian Amazon heavily impacted by artisanal gold mining. Intact forests in the Peruvian Amazon near gold mining receive extremely high inputs of mercury and experience elevated total mercury and methylmercury in the atmosphere, canopy foliage, and soils. Here we show for the first time that an intact forest canopy near artisanal gold mining intercepts large amounts of particulate and gaseous mercury, at a rate proportional with total leaf area. We document substantial mercury accumulation in soils, biomass, and resident songbirds in some of the Amazon's most protected and biodiverse areas, raising important questions about how mercury pollution may constrain modern and future conservation efforts in these tropical ecosystems.

引用

页数：10

共 78 条

[1] Modeling the effects of land cover change on sediment concentrations in a gold-mined Amazonian basin [J].

Abe, Camila Andrade ;

Lobo, Felipe Lucia ;

Leao de Moraes Novo, Evlyn Marcia ;

Costa, Maycira ;

Dibike, Yonas .

REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE, 2019, 19 (06) :1801-1813

[2] Avian mercury exposure and toxicological risk across western North America: A synthesis [J].

Ackerman, Joshua T. ;

Eagles-Smith, Collin A. ;

Herzog, Mark P. ;

Hartman, C. Alex ;

Peterson, Sarah H. ;

Evers, David C. ;

Jackson, Allyson K. ;

Elliott, John E. ;

Vander Pol, Stacy S. ;

Bryan, Colleen E. .

SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, 2016, 568 :749-769

[3] Monitoring the structure of forest restoration plantations with a drone-lidar system [J].

Almeida, D. R. A. ;

Broadbent, E. N. ;

Zambrano, A. M. A. ;

Wilkinson, B. E. ;

Ferreira, M. E. ;

Chazdon, R. ;

Meli, P. ;

Gorgens, E. B. ;

Silva, C. A. ;

Stark, S. C. ;

Valbuena, R. ;

Papa, D. A. ;

Brancalion, P. H. S. .

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION, 2019, 79 :192-198

[4] Impacts of small-scale gold mining on birds and anurans near the Tambopata Natural Reserve, Peru, assessed using passive acoustic monitoring [J].

Alvarez-Berrios, Nora ;

Campos-Cerqueira, Marconi ;

Hernandez-Serna, Andres ;

Delgado C, J. Amanda ;

Roman-Danobeytia, Francisco ;

Aide, T. Mitchell .

TROPICAL CONSERVATION SCIENCE, 2016, 9 (02) :832-851

[5]

[Anonymous], 2018, Global Mercury Assessment

[6] Elevated Mercury Concentrations in Humans of Madre de Dios, Peru [J].

Ashe, Katy .

PLOS ONE, 2012, 7 (03)

[7] Accelerated losses of protected forests from gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon [J].

Asner, Gregory P. ;

Tupayachi, Raul .

ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 2017, 12 (09)

[8] Elevated rates of gold mining in the Amazon revealed through high-resolution monitoring [J].

Asner, Gregory P. ;

Llactayo, William ;

Tupayachi, Raul ;

Raez Luna, Ernesto .

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2013, 110 (46) :18454-18459

[9] Carbon and nitrogen stocks in the soils of the Amazon Region [J].

Batjes, NH ;

Dijkshoorn, JA .

GEODERMA, 1999, 89 (3-4) :273-286

[10] Natural Mercury Isotope Variation in Coal Deposits and Organic Soils [J].

Biswas, Abir ;

Blum, Joel D. ;

Bergquist, Bridget A. ;

Keeler, Gerald J. ;

Xie, Zhouqing .

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, 2008, 42 (22) :8303-8309

← 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 →