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Enhanced accumulation and storage of mercury on subtropical evergreen forest floor: Implications on mercury budget in global forest ecosystems
Author(s) -
Wang Xun,
Lin CheJen,
Lu Zhiyun,
Zhang Hui,
Zhang Yiping,
Feng Xinbin
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: biogeosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8961
pISSN - 2169-8953
DOI - 10.1002/2016jg003446
Subject(s) - mercury (programming language) , plant litter , environmental science , cycling , forest floor , evergreen , forest ecology , ecosystem , temperate rainforest , taiga , deposition (geology) , terrestrial ecosystem , tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests , subtropics , ecology , forestry , geology , geography , soil science , biology , soil water , paleontology , sediment , computer science , programming language
Forest ecosystems play an important role in the global cycling of mercury (Hg). In this study, we characterized the Hg cycling at a remote evergreen broadleaf (EB) forest site in southwest China (Mount Ailao). The annual Hg input via litterfall is estimated to be 75.0 ± 24.2 µg m −2 yr −1 at Mount Ailao. Such a quantity is up to 1 order of magnitude greater than those observed at remote temperate/boreal (T/B) forest sites. Production of litter biomass is found to be the most influential factor causing the high Hg input to the EB forest. Given their large areal coverage, Hg deposition through litterfall in EB forests is appropriately 9 ± 5 Mg yr −1 in China and 1086 ± 775 Mg yr −1 globally. The observed wet Hg deposition at Mount Ailao is 4.9 ± 4.5 µg m −2 yr −1 , falling in the lower range of those observed at 49 T/B forest sites in North America and Europe. Given the data, the Hg deposition flux through litterfall is approximately 15 times higher than the wet Hg deposition at Mount Ailao. Steady Hg accumulation in decomposing litter biomass and Hg uptake from the environment were observed during 25 months of litter decomposition. The size of the Hg pool in the organic horizon of EB forest floors is estimated to be up to 2–10 times the typical pool size in T/B forests. This study highlights the importance of EB forest ecosystems in global Hg cycling, which requires further assessment when more data become available in tropical forests.