Broad-scale mercury bioaccumulation patterns in two freshwater sport fishes: testing the role of growth dilution in a warming climate

Abstract

Sport fishes at the apex of aquatic food webs are indicators of mercury in the environment. However bioaccumulation of mercury in fish is a complex process that varies in space and time. Both large-scale climatic and environmental, as well as biological factors are drivers of these space-time variations. In this study, we avail a long-running monitoring program from Ontario, Canada to better understand spatiotemporal variations in fish mercury bioaccumulation. Focussing on two common large-bodied fishes (Walleye and Northern Pike), the data were first stratified by latitudinal zone (north, mid, and south) and eight temporal periods (between 1975 & 2015). A series of linear mixed-effects models (LMEMs) with latitudinal zone, time period, and their interactions as random effects were used to capture the spatial, temporal, and spatiotemporal variations in mercury bioaccumulation. The random slopes from the best-fitting LMEM were used to define bioaccumulation index and capture trends in space and time. Given the generally warming climate trend over the past 45 years, the role of growth dilution in modulating the bioaccumulation trends was also evaluated. The full model comprising of space, time and space-time interactions was the best-fit with interaction effects explaining most of the variation. Spatiotemporal trends showed overall similar patterns for both species. Growth dilution in conjunction with estimated rates of warming for different latitudinal zones failed to explain the spatiotemporal trends. Temporal trends showed contrasting bioaccumulation patterns-increasing in Northern Pike and decreasing in Walleye, suggesting temperature-driven growth dilution is more likely in latter. However, a space-for-time substitution revealed only a weak presence of growth dilution in Walleye, and it was not attributable to temperature differences. Overall, our study summarizes broad-scale variations in fish mercury and explores the role of growth dilution in shaping the observed patterns.