Aquatic Cycling of Mercury in the Everglades Project Database

Between 1995 and 2008, the Aquatic Mercury Cycling in the Everglades (ACME) project examined in detail the biogeochemical parameters that influence methylmercury (MeHg) production in the Florida Everglades. The interdisciplinary ACME team studied Hg cycling in the Everglades through a process-based, biogeochemical lens (Hurley et al. 1998). In the Everglades, as in most other ecosystems, inorganic mercury is transformed into methylmercury primarily by the action of anaerobic bacteria in surficial sediments and soils.

The ACME project has been a collaborative research effort designed to understand the biogeochemical drivers of mercury cycling in the Greater Florida Everglades. The project is led be a team of scientists from the USGS and the Smithsonian Institution, with additional collaborators from the University of Wisconsin, Texas A&M, the SFWMD and FL DEP.

ACME’s main objective has been to define the key processes that control the fate and transport of Hg in the Everglades. The study has used a process-oriented, multi-disciplinary approach, focusing on a suite of intensively-studied sites across the trophic gradient of the Water Conservation Areas and Everglades National Park. Since 1995, a core set of sites has been examined in detail through time, including changes in season and in hydrology. The biogeochemical parameters examined focus on those that impact net methylmercury (MeHg) production, and include sulfur, carbon and nutrient biogeochemistry. The study examined Hg and MeHg concentrations, and associated biogeochemical parameters in surface waters, soils, periphyton, emergent plants and biota. The core study sites have been supplemented with survey data across many additional sites in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. The field study was also supplemented with experimental studies of Hg complexation, photochemistry, and bioavailability. The ACME project has been funded by a variety of agencies including the USGS, NSF, EPA, SFWMD and FL DEP.