THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2007

JASPER, AB,

the tzhugh 23

Species Theses: Got the mercury blues

72 per cent of the lakes catch- intense fire passes through a forment area. Rather than ruining est, the soil and vegetation is creher study though, the fire and its mated and the mercury stored in after-effects led Kellys research in them is released like smoke from a completely different direction. a big incinerator. When fires burn forests, they Mercury was released to the can cause the release of nutri- atmosphere by the fire, but also ents that were stored in the veg- in runoff from the burned soil, etation and soil. While these says Kelly. Now, everyone knows substances are normally released that mercury + fish = bad. Fish slowly in the natural environ- that people eat can contain high ment, a catastrophic event such levels of mercury due to bioaccuas a fire can cause a large pulse mulation. This is another fancy to be emitted. In the case of Moab Lake, Kelly and her advi- Everyone knows that mercury + fish sor David Schindler SCIENCE GUY, using his new calculator found a doubling in the lakes nitrogen concentration and a quadrupling of the phosphorus scientist word. Basically, it means concentration. This led to a baby that big fish can build up high boom in the lake, with everything concentrations of toxic chemifrom plankton to fish increasing cals because they eat smaller in numbers. organisms that in turn eat other And heres where the dominos smaller organisms, and so on. begin to fall. The fire also caused Each of these prey animals conan increase in the mercury con- tains toxins that are then passed centration in Moab Lake. Nor- on to the predator. So, the more mally, small concentrations of layers in the food chain, the more mercury enter lakes through nat- contaminants can build up in the ural as well as manmade sources. animals at the top. A lot of mercury is also stored in Kelly didnt initially think this soils and vegetation. When a big, would be a big concern the cisco (a freshwater whitefish), lake trout, bull trout, and rainbow trout that inhabit Moab Lake usually eat invertebrates (such as crustaceans and fly insect larvae). However, the aforementioned baby boom led to a huge increase in the number of young rainbow trout swimming around the lakes waters. Since they were so available, the adult fish began eating the little troutlings, adding an extra layer onto the lakes food web. This is highly unusual, notes Kelly: = bad Cisco, for example, usually eat plankton, not fish their mouths are adapted for it. With more levels in the food web, the mercury concentration in the top predators the big fish that we catch and eat increased. In 2003, the concentration of mercury in Moab Lake rainbow trout was five times greater than in 1994. As a result of Kellys research on mercury levels in fish, Parks Canada and Health Canada issued fish consumption guidelines. Kelly notes, however, that the guideline for Moab Lake cisco is based on fish samples from 2003. New results from last summers sampling will be completed soon and passed on to Parks Canada and Health Canada. In 2003, mercury concentrations increased in all fish species from Moab Lake, and were checking to see if theyve declined or not, Kelly says. Please note that despite the issuance of these guidelines, it is not actually legal to possess cisco from Jasper National Park. Consumption guidelines and fishing regulations can be found on the Parks website. www.pc.gc.ca
Lucas Habib works in the resource conservation department of Parks Canada.

Lucas Habib, SCIENCE GUY

What is it with the natural world and complex chains of events? Nothing in ecology is ever simple or straightforward its all interconnected. While this illustrates the fragility of the ecosystem, it also results in some pretty cool chain reactions. Back in the summer of 2000, Erin Kelly, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta, had just started her research project looking at mercury concentrations in alpine lakes along an elevational gradient. When she showed up in Jasper National Park though, she got a big surprise. That July and August, an 1,100 hectare forest fire swept through the Moab Lake region, burning

Smoke on the water:

The forest around Moab Lake burns during the summer of 2000. SUBMITTED PHOTO.

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