Mercury in Red Aspen Boletes (Leccinum aurantiacum) mushrooms and the soils

Abstract

This communication reports data on the mercury contents of Red Aspen Boletes (Leccinum aurantiacum) mushrooms and the forest soils substrate layer (0–10 cm) underneath the fruit bodies collected from nine spatially distant sites across Poland. Total Hg concentration in soil substrate in seven of the nine sites studied varied from 0.0078 ± 0.0012 to 0.028 ± 0.007 μg/g dry weight (dw) and this could be considered baseline concentrations for uncontaminated forest soils in Poland. The arithmetic mean of mercury in Red Aspen Bolete caps varied, depending on the site from 0.27 ± 0.07 to 1.3 ± 0.6 μg/g dw. The lowest Hg contents in soil (0.011 ± 0.006 μg/g and 0.009 ± 0.002 μg/g) were observed for the sites of Wandalin and Opole Lubelskie (from Lubelska Upland region) with the corresponding highest bioconcentration factor (BCF) values of 130 ± 66 and 110 ± 13 for the mushroom caps and 58 ± 29 and 64 ± 8 for the stipes, respectively. The BCF values in caps showed a downward trend with increasing mercury content of soil. A meal of 300 g of fresh caps of Red Aspen Bolete from Aleksandrów Kujawski region could expose a consumer to 8.1 μg Hg, while this will be 39 μg at the Lubelska Upland amounting to 39 and 186 % of daily Hg reference dose, respectively.