A National-Scale Assessment of Mercury Bioaccumulation in United States National Parks Using Dragonfly Larvae As Biosentinels through a Citizen-Science Framework.

ABSTRACT: We conducted a national-scale assessment of mercury (Hg) bioaccumulation in aquatic ecosystems, using dragonfly larvae as biosentinels, by developing a citizen-science network to facilitate biological sampling. Implementing a carefully designed sampling methodology for citizen scientists, we developed an effective framework for a landscape-level inquiry that might otherwise be resource limited. We assessed the variation in dragonfly Hg concentrations across >450 sites spanning 100 United States National Park Service units and examined intrinsic and extrinsic factors associated with the variation in Hg concentrations. Mercury concentrations ranged between 10.4 and 1411 ng/g dry weight across sites and varied among habitat types. Dragonfly total Hg (THg) concentrations were up to 1.8-fold hi

SUBMITTER: Eagles-Smith CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7790342 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature