Abstract
The bioavailable mercury (Hg) in the soil is highly active and can affect the formulation of methyl-Hg (MeHg) in soil and its accumulation in rice. Herein, we predicted the concentration of MeHg in rice using bioavailable Hg extracted from soils; additionally, we determined the threshold value of soil Hg in karst mountain areas based on species sensitivity distribution. The bioavailable Hg was extracted using calcium chloride, hydrochloric acid (HCl), diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid mixture, ammonium acetate, and thioglycolic acid. Results showed that HCl is the best extractant, and the prediction model demonstrated good predictability of the MeHg concentration in rice based on the HCl-extractable Hg, pH, and soil organic matter (SOM) data. Compared with the actual MeHg concentration in rice, approximately 99% of the predicted values (n = 103) were within the 95% prediction range, indicating the good performance of the rice MeHg prediction model based on soil pH, SOM, and bioavailable Hg in karst mountain areas. Based on this MeHg prediction model, the safety threshold of soil Hg was calculated to be 0.0936 mg/kg, which is much lower than the soil pollution risk screening value of agricultural land (0.5 mg/kg), suggesting that a stricter standard should be applied regarding soil Hg in karst mountain areas. This study presents the threshold of soil Hg pollution for rice safety in karst mountain areas, and future studies should target this threshold range.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Zhidong Xu, Lin Liu, Hongwei Ji for their assistance in sample collections. This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC: 42363008, 42003065 and 22166013), Guizhou Provincial Basic Research Program (Natural Science) (ZK[2023]-256), and Guizhou Provincial Key Technology R&D Program ([2020]1Y140).
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The funding was provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no: 42003065, 42363008, 22166013), Guizhou Provincial Key Technology R&D Program, (Grant no: [2020]1Y140) and Guizhou provincial Basic Research Program (Natural Science) (Grant no: ZK[2023]-256).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design; they had full access to all data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Wanbin Hao wrote the report. Xiaohang Xu, Longchao Liang, Guangle Qiu, and Zhuo Chen critically revised the report. Fang zhu, Jialiang Han, and Xian Dong performed the statistical analysis. The manuscript was written through contributions of all authors. All authors have given approval to the fnal version of the manuscript.
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Hao, W., Xu, X., Qiu, G. et al. Predictive modeling of methylmercury in rice (Oryza sativa L.) and species-sensitivity-distribution-based derivation of the threshold of soil mercury in karst mountain areas. Environ Geochem Health 46, 157 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-024-01944-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-024-01944-1