Mercury in a birch forest in SW Europe: Deposition flux by litterfall and pools in aboveground tree biomass and soils

• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158937
• Publication Date: 2022-09-24T14:55:37Z
• Authors: Melissa Méndez-López; Andrea Parente-Se...; Noemi Calvo-Portela; Antía Gómez-Armesto; Cristina Eimil-Fraga; Flora Alonso-Vega; Manuel Arias-Estévez; Juan Carlos Nóvoa...
• Keywords: Plant litter; Mercury; Deposition; Forest floor; Soil horizon

Atmospheric mercury (Hg) is largely assimilated by vegetation and subsequently transferred to the soil litterfall, which highlights role of forests as one largest global Hg sinks within terrestrial ecosystems. We assessed pool in aboveground biomass (leaves, wood, bark, branches twigs), deposition flux through litterfall over two years (by sorting fallen leaves, twigs, reproductive structures miscellaneous) its accumulation profile a deciduous forest dominated Betula alba from SW Europe. The total birch was range 532-683 mg ha-1, showing following distribution plant tissues: well-developed leaves (171 ha-1) > twigs (160 bark (159 bole wood (145 fine (25 thick (24 newly sprouted (20 ha-1). fluxes were 15.4 11.7 μg m-2 yr-1 for studied, with greatest contribution coming (73 %). In profile, mineral (37.0 m-2) an order magnitude higher than organic horizons (1.0 m-2), mostly conditioned parameters such bulk density thickness, C N contents presence certain Al compounds.