Effect of Abiotic and Biotic Factors on the Photo-Induced Production of Dissolved Gaseous Mercury

Oh, Sehee; Kim, Moon-Kyung; Lee, Young-Min; Zoh, Kyung-Duk

Effect of Abiotic and Biotic Factors on the Photo-Induced Production of Dissolved Gaseous Mercury

2011

Oh, Sehee | Kim, Moon-Kyung | Lee, Young-Min | Zoh, Kyung-Duk

This study was conducted to evaluate the contribution of environmental factors such as solar radiation and dissolved organic matter (DOM) on the photo-induced dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) production through laboratory experiments using field water samples collected from wetlands. DGM production was more significantly influenced by UVB intensity than UVA. DGM formation was also significantly affected by DOM chemical structure/composition rather than its concentration. Increasing NO3 − concentration limited DGM production, but photo-induced Hg oxidation stimulated by NO3 − would possibly occur when the NO3 − level is more than twice the DOC level. The addition of phosphorus into the field water samples induced a slight increase of DGM production; however, the addition of nitrogen decreased DGM formation, suggesting that an increase of limiting nutrients in water may promote biotic DGM production. Experiments using a Selenastrum capricornutum monoculture solution showed that cell density had a positive effect on DGM production. Moreover, the difference in DGM production between filtered and unfiltered samples showed that S. capricornutum significantly produced biotic DGM under UVA irradiation. Finally, our results imply that environmental factors such as light intensity, DOM sources, and site-specific microorganisms can significantly affect photo-induced Hg transformation.

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