Aerial View of Florida Everglades at Sunset Hour – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by ocudrone
According to recent study from the University of California, Davis, sulfur used on sugarcane crops in South Florida is seeping into wetlands of Everglades National Park, where it sets off a chemical process that turns mercury into dangerous methylmercury, which builds up in fish.
Researchers gathered water and mosquito fish from wetlands that were irrigated by agricultural canals for an article that was published in Nature Communications. They showed how sulfur runoff can cause fish to have methylmercury concentrations that are up to 10 million times higher than those of the waters they dwell in, endangering both animal and human health. In South Florida, growers add sulfur to alkaline soils to control pH levels and improve sugarcane’s nutrient availability.
Lead author Brett Poulin, an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Environmental Toxicology, stated, “Methylmercury is a neurotoxin, and it’s particularly problematic because it can get across the blood brain barrier, so it gets into our central nervous system, and it can also cross the placental barrier.” “It could have effects on cognition, on development, and it’s preventable to some degree because we know what changes we can make to decrease mercury levels in fish in managed wetlands.”
One worldwide contaminant found in the atmosphere is mercury. Nearly daily rainfall deposits it into the Everglades, where a $26 billion restoration project is underway.
“The concentrations of mercury that we see in fish and avian populations in South Florida are some of the highest that you will see anywhere in the world,” said Poulin.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury, which was adopted by the UN in 2013, aims to lower mercury emissions, although the process is unpredictable and sluggish. Additionally, sulfur is not subject to the same regulations by the US EPA as fertilizers containing nitrogen or phosphorus.
Over 60 percent of the Everglades have been discovered to be contaminated with sulfur. Fish mercury levels could be rapidly reduced by reducing the amount of sulfur used in agriculture.
The regional usage of sulfur, which feeds anaerobic bacteria and microscopic single-celled creatures called archaea that transform mercury into methylmercury, might be decreased by local management and sustainability initiatives, according to the authors.
“We’re able to draw firm conclusions about causal relationships between sulfur inputs and the formation of methylmercury and uptake in fish,” Poulin stated. “The findings provide a local solution to this issue, and you’d expect a very fast response.”
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Melissa’s career in writing started more than 20 years ago. Today, she lives in South Florida with her husband and two boys.
