ArticleEnvironmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)2019
Timber harvest alters mercury bioaccumulation and food web structure in headwater streams.
Article in Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Meta-Analysis of Mercury Biomagnification in Freshwater Predatory Invertebrates: Community Diversity and Dietary Exposure Drive Variability.Environmental science & technology · 2024Pooled it
- The Effects of Forest Harvesting on Total and Methylmercury Concentrations in Surface Waters Depend on Harvest Practices and Physical Site Characteristics.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
- Wildfires Influence Mercury Transport, Methylation, and Bioaccumulation in Headwater Streams of the Pacific Northwest.Environmental science & technology · 2024Article
- Wildfire burn severity and stream chemistry influence aquatic invertebrate and riparian avian mercury exposure in forested ecosystems.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2024Article
- Surface-air mercury fluxes and a watershed mass balance in forested and harvested catchments.Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) · 2021Article
- A synthesis of patterns of environmental mercury inputs, exposure and effects in New York State.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2020Article
- Mercury bioaccumulation in freshwater fishes of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Timber harvest has many effects on aquatic ecosystems, including changes in hydrological, biogeochemical, and ecological processes that can influence mercury (Hg) cycling. Although timber harvest's influence on aqueous Hg transformation and transport are well studied, the effects on Hg bioaccumulation are not. We evaluated Hg bioaccumulation, biomagnification, and food web structure in 10 paired catchments that were either clear-cut in their entirety, clear-cut except for an 8-m wide riparian buffer, or left unharvested. Average mercury concentrations in aquatic biota from clear-cut catchments were 50% higher than in reference catchments and 165% higher than in catchments with a riparian buffer. Mercury concentrations in aquatic invertebrates and salamanders were not correlated with aqueous THg or MeHg concentrations, but rather treatment effects appeared to correspond with differences in the utilization of terrestrial and aquatic basal resources in the stream food webs. Carbon and nitrogen isotope data suggest that a diminished shredder niche in the clear-cut catchments contributed to lower basal resource diversity compared with the reference of buffered treatments, and that elevated Hg concentrations in the clear-cut catchments reflect an increased reliance on aquatic resources in clear-cut catchments. In contrast, catchments with riparian buffers had higher basal resource diversity than the reference catchments, indicative of more balanced utilization of terrestrial and aquatic resources. Further, following timber harvest THg concentrations in riparian songbirds were elevated, suggesting an influence of timber harvest on Hg export to riparian food webs. These data, coupled with comparisons of individual feeding guilds, indicate that changes in organic matter sources and associated effects on stream food web structure are important mechanisms by which timber harvest modifies Hg bioaccumulation in headwater streams and riparian consumers.
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