Biogeosciences
www.biogeosciences.net
1726-4170
1726-4189
6
5
2009
10.5194/bg-6-765-2009
http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/765/2009/
http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/765/2009/bg-6-765-2009.html
http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/765/2009/bg-6-765-2009.pdf
765
777
2009-05-06
Mercury concentrations and pools in four Sierra Nevada forest sites, and relationships to organic carbon and nitrogen
D. Obrist
daniel.obrist@dri.edu
D. W. Johnson
S. E. Lindberg
Desert Research Institute, Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Reno, NV, USA
Department of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
Emeritus Fellow, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
This study presents data on mercury (Hg) concentrations, stochiometric relations to
carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), and Hg pool sizes in four Sierra Nevada forest
sites of similar exposure and precipitation regimes, and hence similar
atmospheric deposition, to evaluate how ecosystem parameters control Hg
retention in ecosystems. In all four sites, the largest amounts of Hg reside
in soils which account for 94–98% of ecosystem pools. Hg concentrations
and Hg/C ratios increase in the following order: Green
Needles/Leaves<Dry Needles/Leaves<Oi litter<Oe litter<Oa litter.
Stochiometric relations show negative correlations between Hg and C
(<i>r</i><sup>2</sup>=0.58) and N and C (<i>r</i><sup>2</sup>=0.64) in decomposing litter, but a
positive correlation between litter Hg and N (<i>r</i><sup>2</sup>=0.70). These inverse
relations may reflect preferential retention of N and Hg over C during
decomposition, or may be due to older age of decomposed litter layers which
are exposed to longer-term atmospheric Hg deposition in the field. The
results indicate that litter Hg levels depend on decomposition stage and may
not follow generally observed positive relationships between Hg and organic
C.
<br><br>
Mineral soil layers show strong positive correlations of Hg to C across all
sites and soil horizons (<i>r</i><sup>2</sup>=0.83), but Hg concentrations are even more
closely related to N with a similar slope to that observed in litter
(<i>r</i><sup>2</sup>=0.92). Soil N levels alone explain over 90% of Hg pool sizes across
the four Sierra Nevada forest sites. This suggests that soil organic N and C
groups provide sorption sites for Hg to retain atmospheric deposition.
However, the patterns could be due to indirect relationships where high soil N
and C levels reflect high ecosystem productivity which leads to corresponding
high atmospheric Hg deposition inputs via leaf litterfall and plant
senescence. Our results also show that two of the sites previously affected
by prescribed burning and wildfires show significant depletion of
above-ground Hg pools but that belowground Hg pools remain unaffected. We
conclude that sequestration of Hg in remote Sierra Nevada forest sites is
strongly co-determined by ecosystem parameters with C and N pools being
excellent determinants for the pool sizes of Hg.
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