RADIOISOTOPIC STUDY OF MERCURY UPTAKE 287 



high temperature, we might propose that mercury contaminated 

 environments are most stressed during the summer months. Even at 

 sublethal concentrations, stress responses to mercury intoxication, if 

 at all related to total body burden, must be greater if accumulated 

 quantities are greater during periods of high temperature. 



The absence of intensive study on the physiological and 

 biochemical effects of metals on planktonic organisms, vi^hich may 

 act as the major vectors for mercury transport to organisms used as 

 food by human populations, has led to the unfortunate circumstance 

 wherein the environmental impact of mercury is based on surveys of 

 concentrations in fish flesh and the results of relatively few 

 laboratory bioassay experiments. Our experiments attest to the need 

 for further study of the behavior of mercury compounds under 

 conditions that simulate natural conditions to ascertain in a valid 

 ecological context the true meaning of mercury-related stress on 

 aquatic ecosystems. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The research reported here was funded in part by grant No. 

 ES-00260 from the National Institute of Environmental Health 

 Sciences. 



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