Seasonal variability of mercury concentration in soils, buds and leaves of Acer platanoides and Tilia platyphyllos in central Poland

In this paper, we present the results of mercury concentration in soils, buds and leaves of maple (Acer platanoides—Ap) and linden (Tilia platyphyllos—Tp) collected in four periods of the growing season of trees, i.e. in April (IV), June (VI), August (VIII) and November (IX) in 2013, from the area of Poznań city (Poland). The highest average concentration of mercury for 88 samples was determined in soils and it equaled 65.8 ± 41.7 ng g(−1) (range 14.5–238.9 ng g(−1)); lower average concentration was found in Ap samples (n = 66): 55.4 ± 18.1 ng g(−1) (range 26.5–106.9 ng g(−1)); in Tp samples 50.4 ± 15.8 ng g(−1) (range 23.1–88.7 ng g(−1)) and in 22 samples of Tp buds 40.8 ± 22.7 ng g(−1) (range 12.4–98.7 ng g(−1)) and Ap buds 28.2 ± 13.6 ng g(−1) (range 8.0–59.5 ng g(−1)). Based on the obtained results, it was observed that the highest concentration of mercury in soils occurred in the centre of Poznań city (95.5 ± 39.1 ng g(−1)), and it was two times higher than the concentration of mercury in other parts of the city. Similar dependencies were not observed for the leaf samples of Ap and Tp. It was found that mercury concentrations in the soil and leaves of maple and linden were different depending on the period of the growing season (April to November). Mercury content in the examined samples was higher in the first two research periods (April IV, June VI), and then, in the following periods, the accumulation of mercury decreased both in soil and leaf samples of the two tree species. There was no correlation found between mercury concentration in leaves and mercury concentration in soils during the four research periods (April–November). When considering the transfer coefficient, it was observed that the main source of mercury in leaves is the mercury coming from the atmosphere.