Mercury Biogeochemical Cycling in Soils and Sediments

Dear Colleagues,

The United Nations considered mercury (Hg) a global pollutant, since it is present in all environmental compartments and brings risks to the environment and human health. Due to these risks, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) created the Global Mercury Assessment. Subsequently, the Minamata Convention established a global treaty to control and/or reduce Hg emissions.

In order for this global treaty to be effective, it is necessary that government officials have the political will to control and monitor emissions, and that expert scientists develop more in-depth studies capable of clarifying the complexity of mercury’s biogeochemical cycle and its influence on the environment and human health.
Thus, with the aim of welcoming the contribution from scientists, we have listed some areas that need clarity regarding the biogeochemical cycle of Hg:

1. Mass balance (emission and re-emission) of Hg in soil and sediment compartments;
2. Effects of local and regional emission and re-emission hot spots on the global Hg cycle;
3. The influence of land use and climate change on the Hg biogeochemical cycle;
4. The effects of forest fires on the Hg biogeochemical cycle in the soil and sediment compartments;
5. Understanding the complexity of the ecological trophic structure of communities in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems from mercury’s potential for bioaccumulation and biomagnification in food webs.

Prof. Dr. José Vicente Elias Bernardi
Prof. Dr. Wanderley Rodrigues Bastos
Dr. Carlos José Sousa Passos
Prof. Dr. Jurandir Rodrigues De Souza
Guest Editors

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• mercury contamination
• methylmercury
• ecotoxicology
• soil
• decomposers
• sediments
• benthos
• plankton
• fish
• spatial distribution
• land uses
• climatic change
• riverside population