Abstract
In order to reveal the mercury (Hg) emission and exchange characteristics at the soil–air interface under different vegetation cover types, the evergreen broad-leaf forest, shrub forest, grass, and bare lands of Simian Mountain National Nature Reserve were selected as the sampling sites. The gaseous elementary mercury (GEM) fluxes at the soil–air interface under the four vegetation covers were continuously monitored for two years, and the effect of temperature and solar radiation on GEM fluxes were also investigated. Results showed that the GEM fluxes at the soil–air interface under different vegetation cover types had significant difference (p < 0.05). The bare land had the maximum GEM flux (15.32 ± 10.44 ng·m−2·h−1), followed by grass land (14.73 ± 18.84 ng·m−2·h−1), and shrub forest (12.83 ± 10.22 ng·m−2·h−1), and the evergreen broad-leaf forest had the lowest value (11.23 ± 11.13 ng·m−2·h−1). The GEM fluxes at the soil–air interface under different vegetation cover types showed similar regularity in seasonal variation, which mean that the GEM fluxes in summer were higher than that in winter. In addition, the GEM fluxes at the soil–air interface under the four vegetation covers in Mt. Simian had obvious diurnal variations.
Highlights
Mercury (Hg) is a highly toxic environmental pollutant that can be absorbed directly through the human body, or through a series of biological enrichment into the human body indirectly through the food chain, constituting a hazard to humans [1]
The gaseous elementary mercury (GEM) fluxes were all highest in summer, and lowest in winter for the four vegetation covers
The GEM flux at the soil–air interface was minimum in winter, and the accumulation of atmospheric Hg in the forest soil at this time was remarkably more obvious than the other three seasons
Summary
Mercury (Hg) is a highly toxic environmental pollutant that can be absorbed directly through the human body, or through a series of biological enrichment into the human body indirectly through the food chain, constituting a hazard to humans [1]. Mercury can reside in the atmosphere for up to one year [2,3], and can travel for a long distance along with atmospheric circulation, resulting in global Hg contamination [4,5]. Research on the sources of Hg is essential for understanding the biogeochemical cycle of Hg globally [6,7]. The terrestrial ecosystem is an important site for the biogeochemical cycle of Hg, among which the forest ecosystem is the largest one. The forest ecosystem is generally regarded as the active sink of Hg. It is known that forest soil is the main place for Hg storage in forest ecosystems. Forest soil can emit Hg to the atmosphere by diffusion
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