Grantee Research Project Results
2009 Progress Report: Effects of Global Change on the Atmospheric Mercury Burden and Mercury Sequestration Through Changes in Ecosystem Carbon Pools
EPA Grant Number: R833378Title: Effects of Global Change on the Atmospheric Mercury Burden and Mercury Sequestration Through Changes in Ecosystem Carbon Pools
Investigators: Obrist, Daniel , Johnson, Dale W. , Lindberg, Steve , Luo, Yiqi
Institution: Desert Research Institute , University of Oklahoma , University of Nevada - Reno
Current Institution: Desert Research Institute , University of Nevada - Reno , University of Oklahoma
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: May 1, 2007 through April 30, 2012
Project Period Covered by this Report: May 1, 2009 through April 30,2010
Project Amount: $899,091
RFA: Consequences of Global Change For Air Quality (2006) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Climate Change , Air
Objective:
Terrestrial carbon (C) pools play an important role in uptake, deposition, sequestration, and emission of atmospheric mercury (Hg). Biomass and soil C pools are highly sensitive to climate and land use changes with potentially serious consequences for the fate of large Hg pools, including past atmospheric Hg pollution, associated within these C pools. Our overall objective is to assess how global change during the next 100 years is likely to affect Hg cycling processes (i.e., atmospheric Hg uptake, sequestration, and emission) associated with vegetation and soil C pools. This will be achieved by developing a first systematic inventory of Hg concentrations and pools associated with and sequestered in US forest ecosystems, assessing how global change will affect plant-derived atmospheric Hg inputs to ecosystems via changes in plant productivity, plant senescence, and litterfall; assessing fate processes of Hg sequestered in terrestrial C pools during decomposition processes; and modeling how global change impact on above processes may feedback on the future atmospheric Hg burden.Progress Summary:
Table 1: List of 14 sites where samples were collected for this project.
We have finished an intentense 3-year sampling campaign to develop a systematic database on Hg stocks associated with terrestrial C pools across US forest ecosystems. In 14 forest sites (see Table 1), we have collected, in a systematic and coherent way, 11 vegetation and soil compartments and analyzed for Hg concentrations, Hg/C ratios, N concentrations, texture (for soils). In addition, subsets of samples have been analyzed for methylmercury. This activity addresses the following project goals: (1) to quantify total Hg pools associated with terrestrial C pools; (2) to estimate atmospheric Hg inputs and sequestration through leaf litterfall and plant senescence; (3) to evaluate total Hg pools sequestered across forests of the United States; (4) to determine resilience and turnover times of Hg sequestered in vegetation and soil pools; and (5) to assess relationships between total mercury and methylmercury concentrations in terrestrial ecosystems.
Task 2: Assessing the fate of Hg during C mineralization processes using controlled laboratory incubation and field studies
Future Activities:
Journal Articles on this Report : 5 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 64 publications | 21 publications in selected types | All 21 journal articles |
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Graydon JA, St. Louis VL, Hintelmann H, Lindberg SE, Sandilands KA, Rudd JW, Kelly CA, Hall BD, Mowat LD. Long-term wet and dry deposition of total and methyl mercury in the remote boreal ecoregion of Canada. Environmental Science & Technology 2008;42(22):8345-8351. |
R833378 (2009) R833378 (Final) |
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Obrist D, Hallar AG, McCubbin I, Stephens BB, Rahn T. Atmospheric mercury concentrations at Storm Peak Laboratory in the Rocky Mountains: evidence for long-range transport from Asia, boundary layer contributions, and plant mercury uptake. Atmospheric Environment 2008;42(33):7579-7589. |
R833378 (2009) R833378 (2010) R833378 (Final) |
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Obrist D, Johnson DW, Lindberg SE. Mercury concentrations and pools in four Sierra Nevada forest sites, and relationships to organic carbon and nitrogen. Biogeosciences 2009;6(5):765-777. |
R833378 (2009) R833378 (2010) R833378 (Final) |
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Obrist D, Fain X, Berger C. Gaseous elemental mercury emissions and CO2 respiration rates in terrestrial soils under controlled aerobic and anaerobic laboratory conditions. Science of The Total Environment 2010;408(7):1691-1700. |
R833378 (2009) R833378 (2010) R833378 (Final) |
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Zhang H, Lindberg SE, Kuiken T. Mysterious diel cycles of mercury emission from soils held in the dark at constant temperature. Atmospheric Environment 2008;42(21):5424-5433. |
R833378 (2007) R833378 (2009) R833378 (2010) R833378 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
N/A, RFA, Scientific Discipline, Air, climate change, Air Pollution Effects, Environmental MonitoringRelevant Websites:
http://www.dri.edu/People/Daniel.Obrist/
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.