Mercury in Watersheds

Mercury in Watersheds
Students from Old Town, John Bapst Memorial and Bangor high schools have been conducting research on mercury in watersheds and will present findings during a poster session 9-11:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 24, at John Bapst, 100 Broadway, Bangor.

In the audience will be scientists, resource managers, parents and the public. For four years the Schoodic Education and Research Center Institute at Acadia National Park has trained and supported teachers in “Acadia Learning,” which engages students in sample collection and data analysis.
Biology and chemistry students and teachers spent part of last fall collecting aquatic invertebrates from Kenduskeag Stream and streams in Sunkhaze National Wildlife Refuge. Invertebrates and American eels from the Kenduskeag were sent to Sawyer Environmental Chemistry Research Laboratory at the University of Maine for mercury analysis so that students could investigate how mercury accumulates in food chains in local streams. The mercury data have become part of a regional database coordinated by UM scientist Dr. Sarah Nelson.

SERC Institute and its partners — the Mitchell Center and Maine Sea Grant at UM — provides supplies, materials and training for the project, which is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Maine Department of Education, private donors and the Davis Foundation.

From The Weekly, a publication of Bangor Daily News
May 18, 2011

For additional information contact Sarah Nelson.