Dr. John Chételat

Research Scientist - Ecotoxicology of Metals

Current research and/or projects

Contributing to Environment and Climate Change Canada’s mandate to prevent pollution in the environment and protect environmental health:

Bioaccumulation of metals in wildlife and food webs
Climate change impacts on the fate of metals in the environment
Isotopic tracers of metal pollution
Lead poisoning in birds
Metal contamination in Arctic ecosystems

Professional activities / interests

Co-chair of the Mercury Expert Group for the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme
Contributor to scientific assessment reports on mercury pollution including the AMAP Assessment 2021: Mercury in the Arctic, the Canadian Mercury Science Assessment, and the Canadian Arctic Contaminants Assessment Report III 2012: Mercury in Canada's North
Supervisor of undergraduate and graduate student research
Collaborator on northern community-based monitoring of metals in the environment

Education and awards

Ph.D., Biological Sciences, Université de Montréal, 2009

M.Sc., Biology, University of Ottawa, 1999

B.Sc. (Hons.), Biology, University of Ottawa, 1996

Key publications

Chételat, J., McKinney, M.A., Amyot, M., Dastoor, A., Douglas, T.A., Heimbürger-Boavida, L.E., Kirk, J., Kahilainen, K.K., Outridge, P.M., Pelletier, N., Skov, H., St. Pierre, K., Vuorenmaa, J., Wang, F., 2022. Climate change and mercury in the Arctic: Abiotic interactions. Science of the Total Environment 824.

Chételat, J., Cousens, B., Hebert, C.E., Jung, T.S., Mundy, L., Thomas, P.J., Zhang, S., 2022. Isotopic evidence for bioaccumulation of aerosol lead in fish and wildlife of western Canada. Environmental Pollution 302, 119074.

Pelletier, N., Chételat, J., Sinon, S., Vermaire, J.C., 2022. Wildfires trigger multi-decadal increases in sedimentation rate and metal loading to subarctic montane lakes. Science of the Total Environment 824.

Chételat, J., Nielsen, S.G., Auro, M., Carpenter, D., Mundy, L., Thomas, P.J., 2021. Vanadium Stable Isotopes in Biota of Terrestrial and Aquatic Food Chains. Environmental Science and Technology 55, 4813-4821.

Chételat, J., Shao, Y., Richardson, M.C., MacMillan, G.A., Amyot, M., Drevnick, P.E., Gill, H., Köck, G., Muir, D.C.G., 2021. Diet influences on growth and mercury concentrations of two salmonid species from lakes in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Environmental Pollution 268.

Hebert, C.E., Chételat, J., Beck, R., Dolgova, S., Fordy, K., Kirby, P., Martin, P., Rabesca, M., 2021. Inter-annual variation of mercury in aquatic bird eggs and fish from a large subarctic lake under a warming climate. Science of the Total Environment 766.

Palmer, M.J., Chételat, J., Jamieson, H.E., Richardson, M., Amyot, M., 2021. Hydrologic control on winter dissolved oxygen mediates arsenic cycling in a small subarctic lake. Limnology and Oceanography 66, S30-S46.

Chételat, J., Ackerman, J.T., Eagles-Smith, C.A., Hebert, C.E., 2020. Methylmercury exposure in wildlife: A review of the ecological and physiological processes affecting contaminant concentrations and their interpretation. Science of the Total Environment 711.

Pelletier, N., Chételat, J., Blarquez, O., Vermaire, J.C., 2020. Paleolimnological Assessment of Wildfire-Derived Atmospheric Deposition of Trace Metal(loid)s and Major Ions to Subarctic Lakes (Northwest Territories, Canada). Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 125.

Pelletier, N., Chételat, J., Cousens, B., Zhang, S., Stepner, D., Muir, D.C.G., Vermaire, J.C., 2020. Lead contamination from gold mining in Yellowknife Bay (Northwest Territories), reconstructed using stable lead isotopes. Environmental Pollution 259.

Chételat, J., Cott, P.A., Rosabal, M., Houben, A., McClelland, C., Rose, E.B., Amyot, M., 2019. Arsenic bioaccumulation in subarctic fishes of a mine-impacted bay on Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. PLoS ONE 14.

Palmer, M.J., Chételat, J., Richardson, M., Jamieson, H.E., Galloway, J.M., 2019. Seasonal variation of arsenic and antimony in surface waters of small subarctic lakes impacted by legacy mining pollution near Yellowknife, NT, Canada. Science of the Total Environment 684, 326-339.

Chételat, J., Hickey, M.B.C., Poulain, A.J., Dastoor, A., Ryjkov, A., McAlpine, D., Vanderwolf, K., Jung, T.S., Hale, L., Cooke, E.L.L., Hobson, D., Jonasson, K., Kaupas, L., McCarthy, S., McClelland, C., Morningstar, D., Norquay, K.J.O., Novy, R., Player, D., Redford, T., Simard, A., Stamler, S., Webber, Q.M.R., Yumvihoze, E., Zanuttig, M., 2018. Spatial variation of mercury bioaccumulation in bats of Canada linked to atmospheric mercury deposition. Science of the Total Environment 626, 668-677.

Chételat, J., Richardson, M.C., Macmillan, G.A., Amyot, M., Poulain, A.J., 2018. Ratio of Methylmercury to Dissolved Organic Carbon in Water Explains Methylmercury Bioaccumulation Across a Latitudinal Gradient from North-Temperate to Arctic Lakes. Environmental Science and Technology 52, 79-88.

Braune, B., Chételat, J., Amyot, M., Brown, T., Clayden, M., Evans, M., Fisk, A., Gaden, A., Girard, C., Hare, A., Kirk, J., Lehnherr, I., Letcher, R., Loseto, L., Macdonald, R., Mann, E., McMeans, B., Muir, D., O'Driscoll, N., Poulain, A., Reimer, K., Stern, G., 2015. Mercury in the marine environment of the Canadian Arctic: Review of recent findings. Science of the Total Environment 509-510, 67-90.

Chételat, J., Amyot, M., Arp, P., Blais, J.M., Depew, D., Emmerton, C.A., Evans, M., Gamberg, M., Gantner, N., Girard, C., Graydon, J., Kirk, J., Lean, D., Lehnherr, I., Muir, D., Nasr, M., Poulain, A.J., Power, M., Roach, P., Stern, G., Swanson, H., van der Velden, S., 2015. Mercury in freshwater ecosystems of the Canadian Arctic: Recent advances on its cycling and fate. Science of the Total Environment 509-510, 41-66.

Gamberg, M., Chételat, J., Poulain, A.J., Zdanowicz, C., Zheng, J., 2015. Mercury in the Canadian Arctic Terrestrial Environment: An Update. Science of the Total Environment 509-510, 28-40.

Douglas, T.A., Loseto, L.L., MacDonald, R.W., Outridge, P., Dommergue, A., Poulain, A., Amyot, M., Barkay, T., Berg, T., Chetelat, J., Constant, P., Evans, M., Ferrari, C., Gantner, N., Johnson, M.S., Kirk, J., Kroer, N., Larose, C., Lean, D., Nielsen, T.G., Poissant, L., Rognerud, S., Skov, H., Sørensen, S., Wang, F., Wilson, S., Zdanowicz, C.M., 2012. The fate of mercury in Arctic terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, a review. Environmental Chemistry 9, 321-355.

Stern, G.A., Macdonald, R.W., Outridge, P.M., Wilson, S., Chételat, J., Cole, A., Hintelmann, H., Loseto, L.L., Steffen, A., Wang, F., Zdanowicz, C., 2012. How does climate change influence arctic mercury? Science of the Total Environment 414, 22-42.