Mercury concentrations and transfers in phyto- and zooplankton communities in a coastal Mediterranean ecosystem (bay of Toulon, France) Flora Drouet MIO - EMBIO, France Jean-Louis Jamet MIO - EMBIO, France Dominique Jamet MIO - EMBIO, France Françoise Miralles LERPAC, France Michelle Brochen LERPAC, France Fabienne Chavanon LERPAC, France Christophe Brach-Papa LERPAC, France This is a section of Ninth International Symposium “Monitoring of Mediterranean Coastal Areas: Problems and Measurement Techniques”(DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-0030-1) by Laura Bonora, Donatella Carboni, Matteo De Vincenzi, Giorgio Matteucci Firenze University Press Firenze 2022 https://doi.org/10.36253/979-12-215-0030-1.61

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Plankton is critical in contaminants transfer but its role in mercury’s is to be investigated. The objective was to characterize the plankton continuum’s taxonomy, trophic organization and mercury levels. Bacteria, pico-, nano- and zooplankton were more abundant in the LiB and phytoplankton in the LaB. Mercury levels were higher in the LiB. Contrarily to standard mercury biomagnification pattern in higher trophic levels, the smaller size classes presented higher mercury concentrations decreasing while size increased followed by an inversion of the trend between the two largest size classes.

 Planktonic compartment Mercury levels Mercury tranfers Trophic tranfers Mediterranean Sea Coastal ecosystem

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