Environmental factors affecting the formation of methylmercury in low pH lakes

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AbstractRecent studies have demonstrated elevated levels of mercury in fish from remote, low alkalinity and low pH lakes. The mechanisms of this enhanced bioaccumulation are poorly understood, but the amount of methylmercury produced in a lake can play a major role. Decreased pH stimulates methylmercury production at the sediment‐water interface and possibly in the aerobic water column. Decreased pH also decreases loss of volatile mercury from lake water and increases mercury binding to particulates in water – factors that may increase methylation at low pH by enhancing the bioavailability of mercury for methylation. In anoxic subsurface sediments, decreased pH decreases the rate of mercury methylation, suggesting that methylmercury formation in the water column and at the sediment‐water interface may be most important in acidified lakes. Sulfate‐reducing bacteria are important mercury methylators in acidified lakes. Whether enhanced sulfate reduction stimulates methylmercury production in low pH lakes is presently unclear, although most of the available data do not support this hypothesis.