POTSDAM -- Clarkson University graduate student Evie Brahmstedt was awarded a $500 grant from the New York State Wetlands Forum. Her research on mercury mobilization in St. Lawrence River wetlands in response to changing water levels was recognized at the recent New York State Wetlands Forum Annual Conference, held in Watkins Glen.

Since mercury is a harmful neurotoxin and can bioaccumulate in fish and humans, the key to understanding the impact on mercury mobilization will be to determine how fast mercury is released, where it goes, and in what form.

As a Ph.D. student in the Environmental Science and Engineering program of Clarkson’s Institute for a Sustainable Environment, Brahmstedt seeks to bridge the gaps in knowledge between environmental change and environmental policy.

“The new water level management plan for the St. Lawrence River is designed to reduce the extent of cattail wetland area by 29% with concomitant gains in wetland meadow and submerged aquatic vegetation – this will increase biodiversity in the river and support greater fish production,” Brahmstedt said.

Brahmstedt’s 2016 study under the supervision of Clarkson Biology Professor Michael Twiss estimated that approximately 150 pounds of mercury will be mobilized with this change in wetland community structure.

With funding Twiss received from the Great Lakes Research Consortium and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change through partnership with the St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences in Cornwall, Ontario, the project was expanded in 2017 to measure the threat of mercury in eighty wetlands in the river from Lake Ontario to the Moses-Saunders power dam.