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| Titel |
Mercury Bioaccumulation in wild fungi from Almaden mining district (Spain) |
| VerfasserIn |
José Maria Esbrí, Miguel Angel Lopez-Berdonzes, Pablo Higueras, Alfonso Gonzalez-Pavon |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2011
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 13 (2011) |
| Datensatznummer |
250056798
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Almadén (South Central Spain) is the world’s largest mercury mining district, having
produced almost one third of total mercury used by mankind, during a time span from
prehistoric times to the year 2000 approximately, when the mines and metallurgic activity
ceased definitively. Mercury pollution in the area affects all the abiotic and biotic
environmental compartments, including soils and plants living on them (Millán et al., 2006;
Molina et al., 2006). Edible and non-edible mushrooms are organisms living in a direct
relationship to soil substrate, and due to this, they are able to incorporate and accumulate
toxic soils components, such as heavy metals (Campos et al., 2009), in most cases with higher
concentrations in their mycelium than in the substrate where they live. Uptake patterns
depend on heavy metal concentration on soil, speciation and bioavailability, but also on
mushroom species considered.
The survey was carried out in the mercury mining district during fall 2008 and spring
2009 and focus on soils and fungi from the main hotspots of the district. Fungi sampling were
focused on calps and stalks, while soil was collected simultaneously in the same area/site on
which each fungus sample grows. Mushroom was frozen after collection, freeze-dried,
crushed and homogenised until total mercury determination. Analysis of biological and
geological samples was carried out using an atomic absorption spectrometer AMA254. This
equipment accomplishes EPA-method 7473, with a detection limit of 1 ng-
g-1 for biological
samples.
Samples of edible (Agaricus sp., Pleurotus eryngii, Russula delica, Lactarius deliciosus
and Boletus edulis) and non-edible (Lepista nuda, Lepista leonida, Lactario torminosus,
Lactarius vellereus, Russula olivacea, Cliptocybe nebularis and Lycoperdum velatum) fungi
species were considered on this study. Mercury contents in soils and fungi show similar range
(0.49 – 42.06 μg-
g-1 / 0.28 – 51.28 μg-
g-1 respectively), with a bioconcentration factor
(BF=Hgfungi/Hgsoil) close to 1 in average (1.33). But this uptake pattern shows differences
depending on each mushroom species considered. Maximum BF on mushroom was
found on Lactarius vellereus (4.21) and Pleurotus eryngii (3.83) and minimum on
Rusula delica (0.09). A remarkable fact is that an edible species (Pleurotus eryngii)
has high mercury concentration and capacity to bioaccumulate mercury from the
soil.
Mushrooms that develop its life underground (Tuber nigrum) shows lower mercury levels
than other mushrooms growing on soil surface in the same areas, probably due to
environmental factors and not only because of soil condition.
A correlation between mercury in mushrooms and soil was found. In a polynomic
adjustment it can be seen that 40% of samples have a perfect adjustment (R2=0.675) to the
model proposed implying mushrooms possibilities to be used as a bioindicator.
References
Campos, J.A., Tejera, N.A.; Sanchez, C.J. (2009) Substrate role in the accumulation of
heavy metals in sporocarps of wild fungi. Biometals 22: 835-841.
Millán, R., Gamarra, R., Schmid, T., Sierra, M.J., Quejido, A.J., Sánchez, D.M.,
Cardona, A.I., Fernández, M., Vera, R. (2006) Mercury content in vegetation and soils
of the Almadén mining area (Spain) Science of the Total Environment 368 (1),
79-87.
Molina, J.A.; Oyarzun, R.; Esbrí, J.M.; Higueras, P. (2006) Mercury accumulation in
soils and plants in the Almadén mining district, Spain: one of the most contaminated sites on
Earth. Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 28 (5): 487-498. |
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