Research:

I study mercury cycling in inland habitats including stream and river, lake, wetland and forest. Mercury is a highly toxic metal, but it is present in all ecosystem types due to long-range atmospheric transport and deposition. I use concentration and speciation analyses to quantify the levels of mercury present in different types of environmental matrices including water, sediment, soil and biota. I also use a newly developed technique that can measure stable isotope ratios of mercury to better understand the sources and transformation of mercury in the environment. By combining concentration/speciation and isotopic analyses, I have recently shown that it is feasible to decipher the sources of methylmercury (bioavailable form of mercury) in predatory wildlife including insects, fish, and birds, which presents a totally new approach of resolving complexities of mercury bioaccumulation as well as food web dynamics. In addition, I am interested in studying the toxicity and cycling of other pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides and organic chemicals in the environment.

Recent Publications:

Tsui MTK, Blum JD, Finlay JC, Balogh SJ, Kwon SY, Nollet YH. (2013). Photodegradation of methylmercury in stream ecosystems. Limnology and Oceanography 58: 11-23.

Tsui MTK, Blum JD, Kwon SY, Finlay JC, Balogh SJ, Nollet YH. (2012). Sources and transfers of methylmercury in adjacent river and forest food webs. Environmental Science and Technology 46: 10957-10964.

Tsui MTK, Finlay JC. (2011). Influence of dissolved organic carbon on methylmercury bioavailability across Minnesota stream ecosystems. Environmental Science and Technology 45: 5981-5987.

Tsui MTK, Finlay JC, Balogh SJ, Nollet YH. (2010). In situ methylmercury production within a stream channel in northern California. Environmental Science and Technology 44: 6998-7004.

Tsui MTK, Finlay JC, Nater EA. (2009). Mercury bioaccumulation in a stream network. Environmental Science and Technology 43: 7016-7022.

Tsui MTK, Chu LM. (2008). Environmental fate and non-target impact of glyphosate-based herbicides (Roundup®) in a subtropical wetland. Chemosphere 71: 439-446.

Tsui MTK, Wang WX. (2007). Biokinetics and tolerance development of toxic metals in Daphnia magna. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 26: 1023-1032. (review)

Tsui MTK, Cheung KC, Tam NFY, Wong MH. (2006). A comparative study on metal sorption by brown seaweed. Chemosphere 65: 51-57.

Contact:

306 Sullivan Science Building
(336) 256-0087