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Cycling and Speciation of Mercury in the Food Chain of South Florida

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Frequently-anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Cycling and Speciation of Mercury in the Food Chain of South Florida
Abstract:
Methylmercury, a neurotoxin, is found in the game fish of south Florida. Samples of periphyton, the assemblage of microalgae that live in shallow submerged substrates which is home to, and food for, creatures that are the foundation of the food chain, have concentrations of methylmercury that range from non-detectable to tenths of a part per million on a dry weight basis. The report produced from this project presents data for samples of periphyton and water collected in 1995 and 1996 from Water Conservation Areas, the Big Cypress National Preserve, and the Everglades National Park in south Florida. Periphyton samples were analyzed for concentrations of total mercury, methylmercury, nitrogen, phosphorus, organic carbon, and inorganic carbon. Water-column samples collected on the same dates as the periphyton samples were analyzed for concentrations of major ions.
Supplemental_Information:
This project is now part of the Aquatic Cycling of Mercury in the Everglades (ACME) project
  1. How should this data set be cited?

    Simon, Nancy S. , 1998, Cycling and Speciation of Mercury in the Food Chain of South Florida.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -81.5
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -80.5
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 26.75
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 25.75

  3. What does it look like?

    <http://sofia.usgs.gov/publications/ofr/98-76/locmapnlx.gif> (GIF)
    location of study area and sampling sites for periphyton in South Florida

  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

    Beginning_Date: 1995
    Ending_Date: 1997
    Currentness_Reference: ground condition

  5. What is the general form of this data set?

  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?

    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)

  2. Who also contributed to the data set?

    South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) provided transportation to the collection sites.

  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

    Nancy S. Simon
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Project Chief
    432 National Center
    Reston, VA 20192
    USA

    703 648-5863 (voice)
    703 648-5832 (FAX)
    nssimon@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

The goal of this project is to answer the question - How does mercury produced in the aquatic environment enter the food chain and become part of the body burden of animals such as game fish in south Florida?

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

    Date: 1998 (process 1 of 1)
    When possible, periphyton was collected by manually lifting floating periphyton mats from the water and transferring them to plastic bags. If the periphytic algae was attached to submerged aquatic plants, the plant stems were cut and the whole unit of plant and periphytic algae was collected.

    Periphyton samples were air-dried in the laboratory in a laminar flow hood to maintain a stream of filtered air across them. Whole samples from each site were ground and aliquants were removed for analysis. Total mercury was determined by cold vapor absorption spectroscopy. Methylmercury and other organomercury compounds were extracted using supercritical fluid carbon dioxide and quantitated using liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Nancy S. Simon
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Project Chief
    432 National Center
    Reston, VA 20192
    USA

    703 648-5863 (voice)
    703 648-5832 (FAX)
    nssimon@usgs.gov

  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

    Simon, N. S. Cox, T.; Spencer, R., 1998, Data for Periphyton and Water Samples Collected from the South Florida Ecosystem, 1995 and 1996: USGS Open-File Report 98-76, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston VA.

    Online Links:

    Cox, T. Simon, N. S.; Newland, L, 1999, Copper, Lead, Mercury, and Zinc from Periphyton from the South Florida Ecosystem: Toxicological and Environmental Chemistry V. 70, pp. 259-274, Taylor & Francis Group, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: Journal membership is required for access to the full article.
    Simon, N.. S. Spenser, R. J.; Cox, T., 1999, Distribution of and relation among mercury and methylmercury, organic carbon, carbonate, nitrogen and phosphorus in periphyton of the South Florida Ecosystem: Toxocological and Environmental Chemistry v. 69, p. 417-433, Taylor & Francis Group, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: Journal membership is required for access to the full article.

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?

  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

    not available

  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

    not applicable

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints: none
Use_Constraints: none

  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

    Heather Henkel
    U.S. Geological Survey
    600 Fourth Street South
    St. Petersburg, FL 33701
    USA

    727 803-8747 ext 3028 (voice)
    727 803-2030 (FAX)
    sofia-metadata@usgs.gov

  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

    data for periphyton and water samples 1995 and 1996

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    The data have no implied or explicit guarantees

  4. How can I download or order the data?

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 20-Feb-2007
Metadata author:
Heather Henkel
U.S. Geological Survey
600 Fourth Street South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
USA

727 803-8747 ext 3028 (voice)
727 803-2030 (FAX)
sofia-metadata@usgs.gov

Metadata standard:
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)

This page is <http://sofia.usgs.gov/metadata/sflwww/nssmet.faq.html>

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Coastal Geology
Comments and suggestions? Contact: Heather Henkel - Webmaster
Generated by mp version 2.8.18 on Mon Feb 26 10:54:36 2007