Prey Engulfment as the Dominant Pathway of Methylmercury Uptake in a Heterotrophic Dinoflagellate Experiment

These data include all relevant analyses from methylmercury (MeHg) uptake experiments utilizing the heterotrophic dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis marina (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:109902), varying salinity, temperature, and dissolved organic matter (DOM) source – including heat-killed O. marina. The goal of these experiments was to determine whether uptake from the dissolved phase or prey engulfment would contribute more to cellular MeHg accumulation. All experimental treatments were triplicated and had a control with no added MeHg.

These studies support the following hypotheses: MeHg uptake is higher in the presence of phytoplankton prey, uptake is significantly lower at a low salinity (11 compared to 17 and 34), and temperature (at 12, 15, and 22°C) has no effect on MeHg uptake.