Mercury Content in Soil Invertebrates of the Recreational Zone of a Large Industrial City (Cherepovets)

Abstract

Soil invertebrates are the main food resource for birds and small mammals. The migration of mercury into the food webs of terrestrial ecosystems is still poorly investigated. The mercury content in soil, earthworms, wolf spiders and harvesters of the forest park zone of Cherepovets (Vologda region) was determined. The collection of the material was carried out on 5 sites (birch-aspen forest, wet pine forest, dry pine forest, wet meadow, dry meadow) differing in the composition of vegetation and the position in the cascade of geochemical landscapes. The minimum mercury content was found in the soils of the dry meadow (eluvial landscape) – 25 ng/g, the maximum – in the soils of the wet meadow (accumulative landscape) – 188 ng/g. The maximum concentrations of mercury in all sites were found in earthworms – from 261 ng/g in the dry pine forest to 1095 ng/g in the wet meadow. The concentration of mercury in wolf spiders was lower than in earthworms. The minimum values were found in a dry meadow. In all sites, the mercury content in wolf spiders was significantly higher than in harvesters. There are no significant correlations between the mercury content in soils and the organism of the studied invertebrates.