Christine McClelland

• Master of Science
• Government of Canada

The Yellowknife area was one of the most productive and profitable gold districts in Canadian history. The early years of operation were associated with large releases of mining waste to local water bodies that have resulted in an enduring environmental legacy in the region. Here, we compile, for the first time, archival information on the scale of...

Wolverines are facultative scavengers that feed near the top of terrestrial food chains. We characterized concentrations of mercury and other trace elements in tissues of wolverine from a broad geographic area, representing much of their contemporary distribution in northwestern North America. We obtained tissues from 504 wolverines, from which mer...

Spatial patterns of bioaccumulated mercury were evaluated in coastal marine food webs of east Hudson Bay and east James Bay in the boreal subarctic of Canada. Two marine species, blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) and common eider ducks (Somateria mollissima) that consume mussels, were collected by a regional community-based monitoring network establish...

We investigated trophic transfer of cadmium (Cd) through an Arctic marine food web in Hudson Bay and compared it with mercury (Hg), a metal known to strongly biomagnify. We evaluated blue mussel, sea urchin, common eider, sculpin, Arctic cod, and ringed seal for the influence of dietary and biological variables on variation in Cd and Hg concentrati...

This study investigated methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations in Arctic benthic invertebrates from two shelf sites in the Canadian Beaufort Sea. Carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur stable isotopes and fatty acids were measured to examine diet influences on MeHg concentrations in 476 individuals from 53 taxa of benthic invertebrates representing three differ...

Limited information exists on mercury concentrations and environmental drivers of mercury bioaccumulation in high latitude terrestrial carnivores. Spatial patterns of mercury concentrations in wolverine (Gulo gulo, n = 419) were assessed across a 1,600,000 km² study area in relation to landscape, climate, diet and biological factors in Arctic and b...

A subarctic fish community in mine-impacted Yellowknife Bay (Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada) was investigated for biological and ecological processes controlling arsenic bioaccumulation. Total concentrations of arsenic, antimony, and metals were measured in over 400 fishes representing 13 species, and primary producers and consumer...

Variation in macrofaunal composition in relation to sediment and water variables was analysed in nine regions of the western Canadian Arctic on the Beaufort Shelf and in Amundsen Gulf. We hypothesized that benthic community composition was distinctive (1) in a recurrent polynya in Amundsen Gulf and (2) in upwelling regions (Cape Bathurst and Macken...

Changes in biomass and elemental composition (dry mass, DM; carbon, C; hydrogen, H; nitrogen, N) were studied throughout the early ontogeny in the serolid isopod Ceratoserolis trilobitoides from a population off the South Shetland Islands (62°24.35′S, 61°23.77′W). Specimens of C. trilobitoides were sampled using an Agassiz trawl during the expediti...