On Thursday, September 17 @ 11am ET, join us for a virtual scientific seminar by Dr. Jacqueline Gerson, Cornell University.
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is the largest global source of anthropogenic mercury emissions. It is prevalent in over eighty countries and uses mercury to extract gold from ore. This process clears forests, dredges rivers, and creates mining ponds. Mercury – a potent neurotoxin – is released into surrounding ecosystems through atmospheric deposition and contaminated tailings. Despite the scale of this contamination, we know little about how this mercury cycles through aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
In this presentation, Gerson examines mercury inputs, transport, and transformation into the toxic, bioavailable form methylmercury across ecosystems affected by ASGM. She draws on research conducted in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the Peruvian Amazon, agro-ecosystems in Ghana, and solutions-oriented approaches in Senegal. Findings raise important questions about the risks ASGM-derived mercury poses to aquatic and terrestrial food webs, and to the indigenous and rural communities and wildlife that depend on them.
Free and open to all. Registration required via Eventbrite.
