Accumulation factors of mercury in mushrooms from Zaborski Landscape Park, Poland

Total mercury concentrations were determined by cold-vapour atomic absorption spectroscopy (CV-AAS) in 117 samples of caps, 117 of stalks and 47 of whole fruiting bodies of 13 species of wild mushrooms and in 164 underlying soil substrate collected from Zaborski Landscape Park during 1997 and 1998. The study area is a background, forested site with rural landscape and no known local sources of mercury emission. Mean mercury concentrations in mushrooms varied widely (range: 50±20 to 3700±1700 ng/g, dry matter) depending on the site and mushroom species investigated. However, mercury concentrations in soil samples varied less (range: 3.0±3.0 to 43±17 ng/g dry matter). Fruiting bodies of Common Puffball ( Lycoperdon perlatum) and King Bolete ( Boletus edulis) contained the greatest concentrations of mercury of 3700±1700 and 2600±1200 ng/g dry matter, respectively. A positive correlation existed between mercury concentrations in the caps of Slippery Jack ( Suillus luteus) and Fly Agaric ( Amanita muscaria) ( p