• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Friday, October 3, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

A warming climate and intensifying land use increase mercury content in fish

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
September 6, 2025
in Biology
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
IMAGE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Recent studies show that, in the future, the mercury concentration of fish in Finnish Lapland can shift closer to the level found in lakes located below the Arctic Circle. According to researchers, mercury content should be increasingly carefully investigated and monitored in fish and food webs, as the climate and land use change.

Mercury is a heavy metal found in nature. Methylmercury, a particularly toxic form of the metal, accumulates in fish and is biomagnified in food webs. Humans are exposed to methylmercury especially through fish-based diets.

Researchers investigated the joint effects of the climate and land use in Finnish Lapland. Intense land use, a warmer climate and increased precipitation increase the leaching of nutrients and carbon-bound mercury stored in the soil into waterways. The use of fossil fuels has also increased mercury levels in the environment.

“Lapland is an important subject of research, since temperatures, precipitation and nutrient levels grow significantly when we move from the almost pristine lakes in the north towards the southern lakes which are more eutrophic and murkier. At the same time, land use in catchment areas is moving from reindeer herding to intensive forestry. Our research area has no direct sources of mercury emissions. Instead, the mercury found in the region originates in long-range atmospheric deposition and leaching from the catchment area soil,” says Professor of Environmental Research Kimmo Kahilainen from the University of Helsinki’s Lammi Biological Station.

The researchers found that the warmer and murkier the lake, the higher the mercury concentration in algae. This was reflected in the fish as well. Mercury content in vendace and roach living in warmer and eutrophic lakes was slightly higher compared to those living in pristine lakes, while the mercury content of perch and pike grew markedly.

“Global warming and increasing precipitation, together with intensifying land use, increase leaching from catchment areas. In the future, mercury content in Lappish fish can indeed shift closer to the level found in subarctic lakes. As the climate and land use change, mercury concentration in fish and food webs should be increasingly carefully investigated and monitored,” Kahilainen says.

###

This study was made available online in March 2021 ahead of final publication in issue on July 20, 2021.

Media Contact
Kimmo Kahilainen
[email protected]

Original Source

https://www2.helsinki.fi/en/news/sustainability-news/a-warming-climate-and-intensifying-land-use-increase-mercury-content-in-fish

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146261

Tags: BiologybiomagnificationClimate ChangeEcology/Environmentenvironmental monitoringland use impactMarine/Freshwater BiologyMercury pollution
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Scientists Uncover New Intracellular Trafficking Pathway in Plant Cells

Scientists Uncover New Intracellular Trafficking Pathway in Plant Cells

October 3, 2025
Microscopic Sugars in the Brain Alter Emotional Pathways, Driving Depression

Microscopic Sugars in the Brain Alter Emotional Pathways, Driving Depression

October 3, 2025

Plant Mobile Domain Proteins Resist Polycomb Gene Silencing

October 3, 2025

Unraveling Heterosis in Eucalyptus Growth Through Transcriptomics

October 3, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    93 shares
    Share 37 Tweet 23
  • New Study Indicates Children’s Risk of Long COVID Could Double Following a Second Infection – The Lancet Infectious Diseases

    88 shares
    Share 35 Tweet 22
  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    75 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19
  • New Insights Suggest ALS May Be an Autoimmune Disease

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Illuminating the Future: Transforming Streetlamps into Electric Vehicle Chargers

Transforming Palm Waste into High-Performance COâ‚‚ Absorbers: Malaysian Scientists Innovate with Agricultural Byproducts

AI Advances Enhance Sustainable Recycling of Livestock Waste

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Success! An email was just sent to confirm your subscription. Please find the email now and click 'Confirm' to start subscribing.

Join 62 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.