Portland, ME – Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) announces the publication of a series of multiyear research studies that assessed the global impact of mercury on air, water, fish, and wildlife in a two-part special issue of Ecotoxicology, an international scientific journal devoted to presenting critical research on the effects of toxic chemicals on populations, communities, and terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems.

To advance scientific understanding of mercury exposure in biota from around the world, an esteemed group of almost 200 scientists from more than 30 countries collaborated on producing 18 peer-reviewed papers that form a Special Issue of Ecotoxicology titled Assessing Global Environmental Mercury Exposure in Biota and Potential Impacts on Biodiversity.

“Understanding the biotic response to methylmercury availability in the environment for all biomes and key biota is vital for evaluating the effectiveness of the Minamata Convention on Mercury,” says David Evers, Ph.D., executive director of BRI.

Evers is one of four guest editors for the special issue that also includes Paco Bustamante, Ph.D., La Rochelle Université; Luis E. Fernandez, Ph.D., Executive Director, Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation; and Manoela Pessoa de Miranda, Ph.D., Secretariat of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

The broad collection of studies emphasized mercury exposure in fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Additional papers further define global sensitivity of mercury in the environment, impacts of mercury to biodiversity, and theories of change that can be used for reducing and eliminating the use of mercury in artisanal small-scale gold mining, which is the largest source of mercury emissions into the environment.

“A comprehensive global analysis of spatiotemporal patterns of mercury exposure and effect to biota requires obtaining and synthesizing critical information from known as well as remote and/or poorly documented areas,” says Bustamante.

Part 1 of the Special Issue was published in the October 2023 issue of Ecotoxicology, in advance of the Conference of the Parties for the Minamata Convention on Mercury. As part of the Secretariat of the Minamata Convention, Pessoa de Miranda works closely with the leaders of this mercury research effort. “There is a critical need to integrate information,” says Pessoa de Miranda. “The Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention made an important decision at its last meeting to work collaboratively and contribute to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted under the Convention for Biological Diversity. To make this happen it is essential that we share the current scientific knowledge to as many people as possible. The mercury synthesis in Ecotoxicology is a big step forward in that direction.”

Part 2 of the Special Issue was published in the July issue of Ecotoxicology in advance of the International Conference of Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP), Cape Town, South Africa, July 21-26, 2024. Many of the papers in this entire collection will be presented at this conference.

Major Findings of the Entire Collection of the Special Issue

  • The availability of methylmercury is of concern globally—for every continent, across all oceans, and for many lakes and rivers.
  • Based on more than 2,000 references, mercury body burdens are elevated across all major animal taxa—fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
  • Many species of higher trophic level fish and other wildlife are exposed to methylmercury concentrations that are of concern by reducing reproductive success and output.
  • A meta-analysis demonstrates that over half of tuna, billfish, and shark species, and more than half of the fish, seabird, and marine mammal species are adversely impacted by environmental methylmercury loads.
  • Because of the large number of studies demonstrating how mercury adversely impacts biodiversity at different levels—including individuals, populations, species, and higher taxa—global biodiversity is likely significantly negatively impacted.
  • Models are now available to identify locations in the world where the most sensitive ecosystems overlap with important biodiversity areas. Within those overlap zones, species of greatest concern that are at the highest trophic levels can be identified.
  • Spatial analyses of ecosystem sensitivity and of high trophic level species that are regularly consumed by humans can also now be used to conveyed globally to indigenous communities.
  • BRI’s Global Biotic Mercury Synthesis (GBMS) dataset provides an important standardized and comprehensive platform for understanding mercury concentrations at spatial and temporal scales that are important for biomonitoring interests of Parties and the Minamata Convention.

“The overall findings of this synthesis make it clear that the rate of loss of biodiversity is increasing, and we are deeply concerned that in tropical forests the damage from artisanal gold mining will reach a point of no return,” says Fernandez.

All papers in this two-volume collection will be OPEN ACCESS THROUGH JULY 31, 2024 Volume 32, Issue 8, October 2023 Volume 33, Issue 4-5, July 2024. To access the published journal papers in this collection visit: link.springer.com/collections/ifigffgedi

A synthesis of these papers can be found in BRI’s science communications publication Mercury in the Global Environment: Impacts to Biodiversity? Download here.

Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI), headquartered in Portland, Maine, is a nonprofit ecological research group whose mission is to assess emerging threats to wildlife and ecosystems through collaborative research, and to use scientific findings to advance environmental awareness and inform decision makers.

Through its Center for Mercury Studies, BRI oversees several ongoing national and international mercury monitoring networks and database summary efforts for the United Nations Environment Programme and other UN agencies. BRI’s executive director David Evers is co-lead for the Fate and Transport Global Mercury Partnership Group of the Minamata Convention on Mercury and a member of its Open-ended Science Group (OESG). Visit: briwildlife.org/hgcenter

The Minamata Convention on Mercury is the most recent global agreement on the environment and health, adopted in 2013. Since it entered into force on 16 August 2017, Parties have been working together to control the mercury supply and trade, reduce the use, emission and release of mercury, raise public awareness, and build the necessary institutional capacity to reduce mercury in the environment. Visit: https://minamataconvention.org/