Mercury accumulation in leaves of different plant types – the significance of tissue age and specific leaf area
-
Published:2021-12-09
Issue:23
Volume:18
Page:6313-6328
-
ISSN:1726-4189
-
Container-title:Biogeosciences
-
language:en
-
Short-container-title:Biogeosciences
Author:
Pleijel HåkanORCID, Klingberg Jenny, Nerentorp Michelle, Broberg Malin C., Nyirambangutse Brigitte, Munthe John, Wallin GöranORCID
Abstract
Abstract. Mercury, Hg, is one of the most problematic metals from
an environmental perspective. To assess the problems caused by Hg in the
environment, it is crucial to understand the processes of Hg biogeochemistry,
but the exchange of Hg between the atmosphere and vegetation is not
sufficiently well characterized. We explored the mercury concentration,
[Hg], in foliage from a diverse set of plant types, locations and sampling
periods to study whether there is a continuous accumulation of Hg in
leaves and needles over time. Measurements of [Hg] were made for deciduous and
conifer trees in Gothenburg, Sweden (botanical garden and city area), as well
as for evergreen trees in Rwanda. In addition, data for wheat from an ozone
experiment conducted at Östad, Sweden, were included. Conifer data were
quantitatively compared with literature data. In every case where older
foliage was directly compared with younger, [Hg] was higher in older tissue.
Covering the range from the current year up to 4-year-old needles in the
literature data, there was no sign of Hg saturation in conifer needles with
age. Thus, over timescales of approximately 1 month to several years, the
Hg uptake in foliage from the atmosphere always dominated over Hg evasion.
Rwandan broadleaved trees had generally older leaves due to lack of seasonal
abscission and higher [Hg] than Swedish broadleaved trees. The significance
of atmospheric Hg uptake in plants was shown in a wheat experiment where
charcoal-filtrated air led to significantly lower leaf [Hg]. To search for
general patterns, the accumulation rates of Hg in the diverse set of tree
species in the Gothenburg area were related to the specific leaf area (SLA).
Leaf-area-based [Hg] was negatively and non-linearly correlated with SLA,
while mass-based [Hg] had a somewhat weaker positive relationship with SLA.
An elaborated understanding of the relationship behind [Hg] and SLA may have
the potential to support large-scale modelling of Hg uptake by vegetation
and Hg circulation.
Funder
Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
Subject
Earth-Surface Processes,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Reference64 articles.
1. Assad, M., Parelle, J., Cazaux, D., Gimbert, F., Chalot, M., and Tatit-Froux,
F.: Mercury uptake into poplar leaves, Chemosphere, 146, 1–7,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.11.103, 2016. 2. Barghigiani, C., Ristori, T., and Bauleo, R.: Pinus as an atmospheric Hg
biomonitor, Environ. Technol., 12, 1175–1181, https://doi.org/10.1080/09593339109385118,
1991. 3. Bertolotti, G. and Gialanella, S.: Review: use of conifer needles as passive
samplers of inorganic pollutants in air quality monitoring, Anal. Methods,
6, 6208–6222, https://doi.org/10.1039/c4ay00172a, 2014. 4. Bishop, K., Shanley, J. B., Riscassi, A., de Wit, H. A., Eklöf, K.,
Meng, B., Mitchell, C., Osterwalder, S., Schuster, P. F., Webster, J., and
Zhu, W.: Recent advances in understanding and measurement of mercury in the
environment: Terrestrial Hg cycling, Sci. Total Environ., 721, 137647,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137647, 2020. 5. Browne, C. L. and Fang, S. C.: Uptake of mercury vapor by wheat, Plant
Physiol., 61, 430–433, 1978.
Cited by
17 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献
|
|