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Our research goal is to better understand how chemicals released by human activity interact with natural ecosystems and affect living systems. Our work quantitatively analyzes the entire exposure pathway for pollutants to identify key processes that have a large influence on their accumulation in living organisms. Our research approach combines environmental measurements with statistical and mechanistic simulation models to project chemical levels over space and time. This integrated approach allows us to better understand how human activities and climate change are affecting human and ecological health risks associated with environmental toxicants.

Featured Paper

M Li, CP Thackray, VWY Lam, WWL Cheung, EM Sunderland. 2024. Global fishing patternns amplify human exposure to methylmercury. PNAS.

121(40), e2405898121

Summary

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a potent neurotoxicant that adversely affects human health. Wild-caught marine species sold in the global commercial seafood market are the main MeHg exposure source for many populations. Here, we identify where and how much MeHg is extracted from the ocean during global marine fisheries harvests. We find that the geographic distribution of MeHg “fished” from the oceans predominantly reflects the harvesting locations of large pelagic species. Expansion of multinational industrial fisheries, particularly in low-latitude ecosystems, has exacerbated MeHg exposures for global seafood consumers. This work reveals that most subsistence fishing populations likely exceed exposure thresholds for MeHg and highlights the disproportionate impacts of global mercury pollution on subsistence fisheries in developing countries. Read the press release on this work here:

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- Below are a selection of figures from our recent papers -