Assessing mercury contamiantion in the Amazon4. Conclusion Anthropogenic activities (i.e. gold mining and soil erosion) seem to play an important role in the recent enrichment of mercury to the aquatic environment of the Amazon. Additionally, the Amazonian hydrographic basin seems to have a very high methylating capacity for mercury. This is concerning because methylmercury tends to bioaccumulate in the aquatic food chain and studies on riverine communities, relying heavily on fish, are showing relations between adverse neurological performance and methylmercury. The use of a predictive model has also shown relations between methylmercury in fish and methylmercury in humans. |