Articles | Volume 17, issue 24
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-6441-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-6441-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
21 Dec 2020
Research article |
| 21 Dec 2020
| 21 Dec 2020
A bottom-up quantification of foliar mercury uptake fluxes across Europe
Lena Wohlgemuth
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel,
Switzerland
Stefan Osterwalder
Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, Institut des Géosciences de
l'Environnement, Grenoble, France
Carl Joseph
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel,
Switzerland
Ansgar Kahmen
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel,
Switzerland
Günter Hoch
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel,
Switzerland
Christine Alewell
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel,
Switzerland
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel,
Switzerland
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Short summary
Mercury uptake by trees from the air represents an important but poorly quantified pathway in the global mercury cycle. We determined mercury uptake fluxes by leaves and needles at 10 European forests which were 4 times larger than mercury deposition via rainfall. The amount of mercury taken up by leaves and needles depends on their age and growing height on the tree. Scaling up our measurements to the forest area of Europe, we estimate that each year 20 t of mercury is taken up by trees.
Mercury uptake by trees from the air represents an important but poorly quantified pathway in...
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