Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2008GA175B

Assessing the impacts of a major wildfire in the Okefenokee Swamp on mercury levels in resident macroinvertebrates

Institute: Georgia
Year Established: 2008 Start Date: 2008-03-01 End Date: 2010-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $36,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $72,002

Principal Investigators: Darold Batzer, Darold Batzer

Project Summary: Recent major wildfires this past summer burned much of the Okefenokee Swamp in southeast Georgia. Because the wetland already had problems with mercury toxins accumulating in resident biota (fish, invertebrates), concerns have developed that the fires might exacerbate the problem. I have extensive baseline pre-fire data on mercury levels in Okefenokee invertebrates. I propose resampling mercury levels in Okefenokee invertebrates post-fire using the same methodology as before, and assessing how mercury levels have been affected by the fire. This proposal is designed to permit immediate collection of data to capture near-term effects of the fires, and provide a basis for future larger proposals to assess longer-term and more widespread effects.