Mercury and its bioconcentration factors in fly agaric (<i>Amanita muscaria</i>) from spatially distant sites in Poland

Abstract

Total mercury content has been determined in the fruiting bodies of fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) and topsoil layer (0-10 cm) collected from 14 spatially distant sites across Poland. Mercury was measured by cold-vapor atomic absorption spectroscopy (CV-AAS) after nitric acid (mushrooms) or nitric acid and sulfuric acid (soil) digestion of the samples. The caps, depending on the site, contained total mercury at mean concentrations from 0.24+/-0.13 to 1.4+/-0.6 microg/g dm (median 0.19-1.4 microg/g dm), and stalks from 0.18+/-0.06 to 0.71+/-0.26 microg/g dm (median 0.18-0.67 microg/g dm). An overall-mean the total mercury content for 204 caps and stalks was, respectively, 0.73+/-0.55 (0.05-3.3 microg/g dm) and 0.43+/-0.33 (0.09-2.3 microg/g dm).