title: Characterization of soil fauna under the influence of mercury atmospheric deposition in Atlantic Forest, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
abstract: The increasing levels of mercury (Hg) found in the atmosphere arising from anthropogenic sources, have been the object of great concern in the past two decades in industrialized countries. Brazil is the seventh country with the highest rate of mercury in the atmosphere. The major input of Hg to ecosystems is through atmospheric deposition (wet and dry), being transported in the atmosphere over large distances. The forest biomes are of strong importance in the atmosphere/soil cycling of elemental Hg through foliar uptake and subsequent transference to the soil through litter, playing an important role as sink of this element. Soil microarthropods are keys to understanding the soil ecosystem, and for such purpose were characterized by the soil fauna of two Units of Forest Conservation of the state of the Rio de Janeiro, inwhich one of the areas suffer quite interference from petrochemicals and industrial anthropogenic activities and other area almost exempts of these perturbations. The results showed that soil and litter of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil tend to stock high mercury concentrations, which could affect the abundance and richness of soil fauna, endangering its biodiversity and thereby the functioning of ecosystems.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Geoquímica, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, RJ 24020-007, Brazil. Electronic address: andressabuch@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Andressa Cristhy
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Buch
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Agrobiologia, BR 465km 7, Seropédica, RJ 23890-000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Elizabeth Fernandes
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Correia
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Geoquímica, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, RJ 24020-007, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniel Cabral
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Geoquímica, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, RJ 24020-007, Brazil.
authors.forename: Emmanoel Vieira
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Silva-Filho
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects; D001938:Brazil; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D065928:Forests; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D012987:Soil; D008628:Mercury
keywords: Biodiversity; Litter; Microarthropods; Soil; Trace-element