This finding will facilitate mercury research and could lead to the creation of a national data registry
Dragonflies occupy various freshwater environmentshabitat on six continents and have tissues that absorb mercury in its toxic form. As predators, dragonflies act in the food web similarly to fish, birds and amphibians, which also accumulate mercury in body tissues.
The study includes data on thousandsspecimens of larval dragonflies collected from nearly 500 sites at 100 sites in the US National Park System. The survey was conducted from 2009 to 2018 within the framework of the national project "Dragonfly Mercury".
Methylmercury, organic toxic formmetallic mercury is a danger to humans and wildlife due to the consumption of fish. Mercury pollution comes from power plants, mines and other industrial facilities. It is transported in the atmosphere and then stored in its natural environment where wildlife can be exposed.
Fish and aquatic birds are commonly used to monitor mercury levels, but are difficult to work with in a large-scale project due to their size, migratory patterns, and species diversity.
As part of a ten-year study, scientistspresented the first-ever work on mercury pollution in the US national park system. The study found that about two-thirds of the water bodies studied in the national parks are polluted with moderate to extreme levels of mercury. Detection of mercury in a park is not an indication that the source of pollution is within the parks themselves. Mercury is widespread in the atmosphere and is deposited in protected areas as in other bodies of water across the country.
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