Edward Swain

My research mainly concerns air pollutants that affect the function of surface water ecosystems. I have focused mainly on how atmospheric mercury pollution enters aquatic systems and how mercury is methylated, enters the food web, bioaccumulates in fish, and affects the health of fish and wildlife that eat fish. These processes are affected by numerous other environmental perturbations, including acid rain, sulfate pollution, and climate change (especially warming, periodic drying of wetlands, & water fluctuations), all of which are of interest to me and to my employer, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. In recent years I have pursued an understanding of the socioeconomic effects of mercury polution. I also have an interest in using paleolimnology to answer historical questions about the impact of human development on aquatic ecosystems. As an adjunct faculty member whose office is seven miles from campus, I am not an ideal thesis advisor. However, I am quite interested in helping graduate students who share my interests.