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Conservation Benefits of Lake Outlet Dam Removals: Reduced Mercury in an Apex Fish Predator
Karlstad University, Faculty of Health, Science and Technology (starting 2013), Department of Environmental and Life Sciences (from 2013).ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4417-6636
Karlstad University, Faculty of Health, Science and Technology (starting 2013), Department of Environmental and Life Sciences (from 2013).
Karlstad University, Faculty of Health, Science and Technology (starting 2013), Department of Environmental and Life Sciences (from 2013).ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2220-1615
Lund University, Sweden.
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2025 (English)In: Aquatic conservation, ISSN 1052-7613, E-ISSN 1099-0755, Vol. 35, no 11, article id e70248Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Biomagnification of environmental toxins is influenced by food chain length, which in turn is shaped by habitat connectivity and food web dynamics. Dam removals are increasingly used as restoration measures, yet their role in reducing contaminant exposure has rarely been quantified. We tested if mercury concentration in pike (Esox lucius) muscle tissue was reduced by removals of lake outlet dams in five oligotrophic, boreal lakes, using a before-after design. For pike of average size (50 cm), mean mercury concentration decreased from 843 to 598 mu g Hg per kg muscle tissue following dam removal, which corresponds to a 29% reduction. These results show that dam removal can lower mercury bioaccumulation in apex predators, providing an additional conservation benefit of restoring natural aquatic connectivity, with positive implications for both ecosystem integrity and human health.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
John Wiley & Sons, 2025. Vol. 35, no 11, article id e70248
Keywords [en]
food chain length, food web, Hg, MeHg, pike, toxin fish
National Category
Ecology Environmental Sciences
Research subject
Biology; Biology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-107518DOI: 10.1002/aqc.70248ISI: 001605183900001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105020183536OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kau-107518DiVA, id: diva2:2013700
Available from: 2025-11-13 Created: 2025-11-13 Last updated: 2026-02-12Bibliographically approved

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Watz, JohanCarlsson, NiclasBergman, EvaCalles, Olle

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