An important consequence of reservoir creation is the
production and bioaccumulation of neurotoxic
methylmercury through the food web into fish. The
FLooded Upland Dynamics EXperiment (FLUDEX) at the
Experimental Lakes Area in NW Ontario tested the
hypothesis that methylmercury production in
reservoirs is related to the amount and
decomposition of flooded organic matter. From
1999-2001, three upland forests that varied in the
amounts of organic carbon stored in vegetation and
soils were flooded from spring to autumn with low
organic carbon, low methylmercury water pumped from a
near-by...