Consulting Co-Director of Center for Mercury Studies
Celia.Y.Chen@Dartmouth.edu
603-646-2376

Dr. Celia Chen is an aquatic ecologist and Research Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth College. She also serves as Director of the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program.

Her research over the last 24 years has focused on the fate and effects of metal contaminants in aquatic food webs, both in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Dr. Chen has also worked to bring mercury and arsenic science to policy by gathering groups of scientists to produce synthesis documents, providing scientific input to federal agencies, and through her involvement in the Fate and Transport Partnership in the implementation of the Minamata Convention.

Research Interests

• Aquatic ecology
• Ecotoxicology
• Multiple stressors and contaminants

Projects

In her 24 years as an aquatic ecologist, and in addition to the efforts described above, Dr. Chen has studied the bioavailability and bioaccumulation of mercury and other metals (arsenic, cadmium, lead, zinc) in benthic and pelagic invertebrates and trophic transfer to fish. She has conducted metal bioavailability studies in the laboratory using freshwater and estuarine crustaceans and fish, and has also investigated metal bioaccumulation and trophic transfer in field studies in lakes, streams and estuaries in the Northeast US.

Dr. Chen’s research questions focus on the chemical and ecological factors that influence metal uptake, including salinity, natural organic matter, feeding strategy, and food web structure. She also investigates the influence of species and size on the co-occurrence of metal contaminants and fatty acids in coastal fish tissue as well as the environmental factors predicting co-occurrence of metal and organic contaminants in fish and invertebrates in lakes, rivers, and coastal waters.

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