Restoration Scaling Approaches to Addressing Ecological Injury: The Habitat-Based Resource Equivalency Method.

Natural resource trustee agencies must determine how much, and what type of environmental restoration will compensate for injuries to natural resources that result from releases of hazardous substances or oil spills. To fulfill this need, trustees, and other natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) practitioners have relied on a variety of approaches, including habitat equivalency analysis (HEA) and resource equivalency analysis (REA). The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Habitat-Based Resource Equivalency Method (HaBREM), which integrates REA's reproducible injury metrics and population modeling with HEA's comprehensive habitat approach to restoration.

Benthic and pelagic pathways of methylmercury bioaccumulation in estuarine food webs of the northeast United States.

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a contaminant of global concern that bioaccumulates and bioamagnifies in marine food webs. Lower trophic level fauna are important conduits of MeHg from sediment and water to estuarine and coastal fish harvested for human consumption. However, the sources and pathways of MeHg to these coastal fisheries are poorly known particularly the potential for transfer of MeHg from the sediment to biotic compartments.

Methylmercury production in estuarine sediments: role of organic matter.

Methylmercury (MeHg) affects wildlife and human health mainly through marine fish consumption. In marine systems, MeHg is formed from inorganic mercury (Hg(II)) species primarily in sediments, then accumulates and biomagnifies in the food web. Most of the fish consumed in the United States are from estuarine and marine systems, highlighting the importance of understanding MeHg formation in these productive regions.