Abstract
In this paper, we present the results of mercury concentration in soils, buds and leaves of maple (Acer platanoides—Ap) and linden (Tilia platyphyllos—Tp) collected in four periods of the growing season of trees, i.e. in April (IV), June (VI), August (VIII) and November (IX) in 2013, from the area of Poznań city (Poland). The highest average concentration of mercury for 88 samples was determined in soils and it equaled 65.8 ± 41.7 ng g−1 (range 14.5–238.9 ng g−1); lower average concentration was found in Ap samples (n = 66): 55.4 ± 18.1 ng g−1 (range 26.5–106.9 ng g−1); in Tp samples 50.4 ± 15.8 ng g−1 (range 23.1–88.7 ng g−1) and in 22 samples of Tp buds 40.8 ± 22.7 ng g−1 (range 12.4–98.7 ng g−1) and Ap buds 28.2 ± 13.6 ng g−1 (range 8.0–59.5 ng g−1). Based on the obtained results, it was observed that the highest concentration of mercury in soils occurred in the centre of Poznań city (95.5 ± 39.1 ng g−1), and it was two times higher than the concentration of mercury in other parts of the city. Similar dependencies were not observed for the leaf samples of Ap and Tp. It was found that mercury concentrations in the soil and leaves of maple and linden were different depending on the period of the growing season (April to November). Mercury content in the examined samples was higher in the first two research periods (April IV, June VI), and then, in the following periods, the accumulation of mercury decreased both in soil and leaf samples of the two tree species. There was no correlation found between mercury concentration in leaves and mercury concentration in soils during the four research periods (April–November). When considering the transfer coefficient, it was observed that the main source of mercury in leaves is the mercury coming from the atmosphere.
Highlights
In the natural environment, mercury constantly undergoes complex transformations at different levels of its cycle in the air, water, soil, bottom sediments, plants and living organisms (Horvat et al 1999; Melamed and Villas Bôas 2000; Ericksen and Gustin 2004; Brent and Berberich 2014; Looi et al 2015; Ma et al 2015)
The results of mercury concentration in the samples of soil and plants (Ap and Tilia platyphyllos (Tp)) collected from the Poznań area are presented in Table 2 and in Figs. 2, 3 and 4
It was found that the results of mercury in soil samples were not normally distributed
Summary
Mercury constantly undergoes complex transformations at different levels of its cycle in the air, water, soil, bottom sediments, plants and living organisms (Horvat et al 1999; Melamed and Villas Bôas 2000; Ericksen and Gustin 2004; Brent and Berberich 2014; Looi et al 2015; Ma et al 2015). Prior to its re-deposition on the surface of the land or ocean, mercury can be retained in the atmosphere for a period of 6 to 24 months. Such pollutants as mercury can be transported thousands of kilometres from the emission source, causing regional and global pollution problems (Wang et al 2012; De Simone et al 2014; Jang et al 2014; Wang et al 2014b, Chételat et al 2015). There are two ways of mercury transfer to plants: from the atmosphere and from the soil (Kabata-Pendias 2001; Ericksen and Gustin 2004; Poissant et al 2008, Pérez-Sanz et al 2012).
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