RESEARCH ARTICLE · Environmental Science & Technology · 2024

Warming-Induced Vegetation Greening May Aggravate Soil Mercury Levels Worldwide

Wenzhe Guo, Мaodian Liu, Qianru Zhang, Yidan Deng, Zhaohan Chu, Hehao Qin, Yangmingkai Li, Yu‐Rong Liu, Haoran Zhang, Wei Zhang, Shu Tao, Xuejun Wang

Read original paper ↗

See where this research leads.

A citation map has not been saved for this paper yet.

Open in your workspace →Open your workspace to prepare the citation network.

The paper record is available below. Preparing a network uses the existing account and source-allowance controls.

Papers that cite this work

No saved citation network is available; this does not mean the paper has no citations.

The evidence behind the map

Publication record

Research article.

Abstract

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Mercury, a neurotoxic substance, circulates globally, significantly stored in soils through atmospheric deposition and plant decay. Despite being deposited, mercury can be remobilized and released into the atmosphere and water, enhancing its global cycle. Recent research suggests that climate warming may amplify the remobilization of soil mercury, facilitating its incorporation into food webs that humans exploit. However, the potential geospatial feedback of soil mercury levels in response to warming remains unclear. By leveraging up-to-date soil measurements and observation-driven models, we determined the amount of mercury stored in global 0–100 cm soils to be 4.3 Tg (interquartile range: 2.5–6.3 Tg). Furthermore, our analysis indicates that warming likely aggravates global soil mercury levels, particularly in many temperate areas in East Asia, North Europe, and North America (>20 ng g –1 increase by 2100) due to warming-induced vegetation greening. Critically, observation-driven models raise the possibility that implementing ambitious mercury-emission-control schemes alone may be insufficient to counterbalance the positive feedback of soil mercury concentration, while process-based biogeochemical modeling demonstrates consistent patterns that reinforce this concern. These findings hold broad implications; for example, such feedback may catalyze mercury remobilization in land-ocean continuums and exacerbate human risks, stressing the necessity for continued reductions in greenhouse gas and mercury emissions.

Coverage and freshness

Citation coverage has not been established for this paper.

Counts describe saved source records; repository versions may appear separately. A completed source query is not a complete or live citation census. A citation does not prove endorsement or research quality. Counts depend on publication age and index coverage. Colors identify research areas; positions are for readability.

Source: Saved OpenAlex scholarly metadata. Visits to this public page do not acquire new provider data.

Report a correction