Total mercury in fruiting bodies and underlying soil substrate of Poison Pax Paxillus involutus (Batsch Ex. Fr.) Fr. from various sites in Poland

Abstract
The total mercury concentrations were quantified in the caps, stalks and underlying soil substrate of Poison Pax Paxillus involutus collected from 19 spatially distant sites in Poland in 1994-2001 to examine the status of mercury pollution, bioconcentration features as well as bioindication potential of this mushroom species. The mushroom and soil samples were collected from the Mierzeja Wislana Landscape Park, Wdzydzki Landscape Park, Zaborski Landscape Park, Augustów Forests, Borecka Forests, Wielunska Upland, Darzlubska Forest, Tucholskie Forest and the counties of Gubin. Koscierzyna, Morag, Koszalin, Gdansk, Bydgoszcz, Ketrzyn, Zuromin, Wloclawek, and Starachowice. The mean concentrations of mercury varied, depending on the sampling site, between 15 9 and 410 200 ng/g dry matter for caps and between 14 26 and 200 130 ng/g dry matter for stalks, The mean soil mercury concentrations varied between 8.8 4.5 and 95 84 ng/g. The mean mercury concentration cap to stalk quotients varied between O.6 0.2 and 1.9 1.5, with exception of the site Morag with 4.4 7.2. The mean values of bioconcentration factor of mercury in caps and stalks of Poison Pax varied in relatively narrow range between 0.7 and 10, and 0.5 and 8.5, respectively.