Professor Brett Poulin’s lab in ETX is collaborating with federal scientists at the Woodwell Climate Research Center to understand how climate change is affecting uptake of toxic mercury in aquatic food webs as Arctic permafrost thaws. Large stores of ancient mercury are being released to freshwater and coastal environments with likely impacts on aquatic organisms and communities relying on subsistence fishing. This NSF-funded research on lakes and ponds in northwest Alaska is helping to understand critical processes affecting mercury distribution and fate, to forecast future conditions and to provide relevant information to rural communities in Arctic Alaska.

Pictured (right) are Brett Poulin (ETX) and Jon O’Donnell (National Park Service) sampling water and soil at Wrench Creek in northwest Alaska.