Mercury concentration in lichen moss and soil sam

Authors: Andrzej Kłos Małgorzata Rajfur Ivo Šrámek Maria Wacławek

Publish Date: 2011/12/02

Volume: 184, Issue: 11, Pages: 6765-6774

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Abstract

The concentration of mercury was determined in samples of the lichen Hypogymnia physodes the moss Pleurozium schreberi and the soil humus collected in Polish and Czech Euroregions Praded and Glacensis The sampling sites were located in Bory Stobrawskie Bory Niemodlińskie and Kotlina Kłodzka in Poland and in Jeseniki and Gory Orlickie in the Czech Republic The mean concentrations of mercury accumulated in the lichen 0129 mg g−1 in the moss 0094 mg g−1 and in soil 0286 mg g−1 were fairly close to the corresponding concentrations in other lowindustrialized regions The highest concentrations of mercury were observed in the lichen and the moss samples from Kotlina Kłodzka The primary deposition of mercury was evaluated using the comparison factor defined as the ratio of a difference between the concentrations of a bioavailable analyte in lichens and in mosses to the arithmetic mean of these concentrationsThe influence of the anthroposphere on the environment has been observed for a long time The biosphere has a selfcleaning ability to accommodate and destroy some limited amounts of pollutants Breaking the limits of pollution usually results in ecological disasters and irreversible changes in ecosystems Among many toxins released to the environment due to human activities mercury is particularly important It moves easily between the air water and soil matrices because it has low melting temperature 23432 K high volatility and an ability of biotransformation methylation alkylation and reduction Due to the mercury reduction by microorganisms Głuszcz et al 2008 evaporation and phytovolatilization Che et al 2003 mercury translocates from soil to air Longrange transport of airborne mercury vapour made the mercury pollution a global problem That was confirmed by the observation of increasing concentration of mercury in polar regions Travnikov 2005Mercury is traded freely on the world market with a current global supply close to 3600 tonnes per year Overarching Framework UNEP Global Mercury Partnership 2009 It is released to the atmosphere mainly from the combustion of coal and lignite and from the production of cement The less significant sources of mercury include the production of iron and steel and the combustion of wastes as well as the mining of gold by the amalgam method and the mercury process of chlorine production both currently avoided Mercury is also used in dentistry and in making of light bulbs and batteries Main natural sources of mercury pollution include volcanic eruptions erosion of mercurycontaining minerals and geothermal processes Loppi et al 2006In January 2005 the European Commission presented a strategy for mercury which had been supported both by the Council of Ministers and by the European Parliament The strategy has important objectives the reduction of mercury emissions the reduction of mercury input into the circulation within society by cutting the supply and the demand resolving the longterm fate of mercury surpluses and societal reservoirs the protection against mercury exposure the improved understanding of the mercury problem and its solutions and supporting and promoting the international actions on mercury Commission of the European Communities 2005 In December 2008 the Commission of the European Communities issued a Recommendation for the European Council on the participation of the European Community in the negotiations towards a legally binding instrument on mercury further to Decision 24/3 of the Governing Council of the UNEPFollowing the EU Directives Poland and Czech Republic began to inventory and reduce the emission of mercury Data from the European Monitoring Environmental Program EMEP show that in 1990 the total mercury emission in Poland and in Czech Republic reached 33 and 75 Mg year−1 respectively In 2008 these values dropped severally to 16 and 41 Mg year−1 EMEP 2010 The main source of atmospheric emission of mercury in Poland is combustion of lignite and hard coal Pacyna et al 2006 Głodek and Pacyna 2009 The Czech mercury emissions were not inventoried until the present but similar to Poland combustion of lignite and fossil fuels is expected to be the major sourceFor many years the technical monitoring of the environmental pollution has been supported with the biomonitoring studies that examined the content of many trace elements in various components of the biota Wolterbeek 2003 Markert et al 2003 Smodiš et al 2004 Markert 2007 The biomonitoring helps to assess the pollution of considered regions to locate the sources of pollutants and to estimate the transport vectors of pollutants It provides useful information on time changes of the amounts of elements accumulated in the biological material Bennett and Wetmore 1997 and on the distribution of pollutants across the consecutive levels of the trophic chains in various ecosystems Kehrig et al 2010 Dang and Wang 2010 The contamination of atmospheric aerosols is often resolved with the use of mosses and lichens Fraenzle and Markert 2007 Markert et al 2008 Lichens are less tolerant to pollutants so they are used mostly for the nonmethodical or local studies The concentration of mercury in lichen samples collected in various regions of the world ranged from 003 to 118 μg g−1 in a geothermal area of Mt Amiata in Central Italy Loppi et al 2006 from 006 to 138 μg g−1 in the Nahuel Huapi National Park in Patagonia Argentina Ribeiro Guevara et al 2004 from 028 to 366 μg g−1 near a chloralkali plant in New Brunswick Canada Sensen and Richardson 2002 from 0006 to 0234 μg g−1 in SouthEastern Louisiana Becnel et al 2004 from 0045 to 0660 μg g−1 in the Kejimkujik National Park in Nova Scotia Canada Rencz et al 2003 from 007 to 029 μg g−1 in the Yellowstone National Park in the USA Bennett and Wetmore 1999 and from 008 to 206 μg g−1 on the shores of the Hudson Bay in Canada Carignan and Sonke 2010Every 5 years since 1990 the European countries carry out methodical studies of heavy metals accumulated in mosses which include mercury The studies are part of The International Cooperative Programme on Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops ICP Vegetation which was established in 1987 under the United Nation Economic Commission for Europe Convention on LongRange Transboundary Air Pollution Harmens et al 2009 The program is coordinated by the ICP Vegetation Coordination Centre affiliated with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Bangor UK In 2005 it gathered 28 countries including Poland and Czech Republic The median concentrations of mercury in mosses determined in these countries ranged from 0012 μg g−1 in Spain to 014 μg g−1 in Belgium Harmens et al 2010a In Czech Republic the concentration was 0045 μg g−1 while in Poland it was not determined A similar study was carried out in 2000 by the Visegrád Group countries Hungary Czech Republic Poland and Slovakia The determined median concentrations of mercury in mosses ranged from 006 to 032 μg g−1 in Slovakia and from 0020 to 0105 μg g−1 in Czech Republic Suchara et al 2007 Another study was carried out in 2007 near the Spolana works in Neratovice Czech Republic which manufacture chlorine using the mercury technology The measured concentrations of mercury in mosses depended on the distance of the sampling sites from the works and ranged from 085 μg g−1 maximum at distances shorter than 05 km to 009 μg g−1 minimum at 10 km Suchara and Sucharova 2008 Attempts to correlate the deposition models such as those used in EMEP with the concentrations of mercury determined in mosses were unsatisfactory Harmens et al 2010b Studies carried out in Norway indicated that mosses absorb well not only the Hg2+ ions but also the airborne elemental mercury Hg0 Steinnes et al 2003 Probably sorption of mercury by lichens and mosses is influenced by climate conditions as well as by dry and wet deposition The comparison of results obtained from projects carried out in European countries in 1995 and 2005 showed that in spite of many discrepancies these projects significantly contributed to the evaluation of time trends of the environmental pollution and were consistent with the EMEP studies Harmens et al 2010a bSoil is also a matrix used for the assessment of mercury pollution Studies carried out in Poland and Czech Republic measured the concentrations of mercury which ranged from 047 to 467 μg g−1 near the aforementioned Spolana works Suchara and Sucharova 2008 1490 μg g−1 mean in forest soils and 0289 μg g−1 mean in arable soils near a lead smelter in Příbram Czech Republic Ettler et al 2007 0633 μg g−1 maximum in the soil humus in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park Czech Republic Navrátil et al 2009 from 62 to 393 μg g−1 in dry soil matter in Warsaw Poland near a plant manufacturing thermometers areometers and electrical switches containing mercury Boszke et al 2008 from 0146 to 0193 μg g−1 in soil humus from the Holy Cross Mountains in Poland Migaszewski et al 2002 and 0080 μg g−1 mean in the Wigry National Park Poland Migaszewski et al 2005

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