Mercury in terrestrial environments: a large-scale assessment of bioaccumulation and food web transfer in three habitat-specialist songbirds.

Abstract

This research examines the extent to which mercury and its neurotoxic form, methylmercury, is accumulating in the leaf litter and associated biota of terrestrial forests in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. The author works to identify the food web pathway of mercury transfer and bioaccumulation, the degree to which mercury is biologically available in the leaf litter, and working with other mercury focused research teams identify broad-scale terrestrial patterns of biotic mercury accumulation in northeastern North America.