Influence of feeding ecology on blood mercury concentrations in four species of turtles.

Mercury is a relatively well-studied pollutant because of its global distribution, toxicity, and ability to bioaccumulate and biomagnify in food webs: however, little is known about bioaccumulation and toxicity of Hg in turtles. Total Hg (THg) concentrations in blood were determined for 552 turtles representing four different species (Chelydra serpentina, Sternotherus odoratus, Chrysemys picta, and Pseudemys rubriventris) from a Hg-contaminated site on the South River (VA, USA) and upstream reference sites. Methylmercury and Se concentrations also were determined in a subset of samples.