Quantification mercury (Hg) pools in forests is crucial for understanding the Hg assimilation, flux and even biogeochemical cycle in forest ecosystems. While several investigations focused on Hg pools among broadleaved, coniferous and mixed forests, there was still absent information on alpine forest. We sampled soil, moss and various tissues of the dominant Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia Kom.) to investigate Hg concentrations and pools, and assess Hg accumulation dynamics in the Qilian Mountains, northwestern China. The mean Hg concentration increased in the following order: trunk wood (1.8 f 0.7 ng g(-1)) < branch (4.6 f 0.8 ng g(-1)) < root (12.2 f 2.9 ng g(-1)) < needle (19.3 f 5.6 ng g(-1)) < bark (28.7 f 9.0 ng g(-1)) < soil (34.1 f 7.7 ng g(-1)) < litterfall (42.9 f 2.9 ng g(-1)) < moss (62.5 f 5.0 ng g(-1)). The soil contained Hg pools two orders of magnitude higher than vegetation and accounted for 92.2 % of the total Hg pool in the alpine forest ecosystem. Moss, despite representing only 2.7 % of total vegetation biomass, contained a disproportionate 16.7 % of the Hg pool.

来源平台：SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT