Influence of acidity and other soil properties on metal concentrations in forest plants and animals.

Abstract The influence of acidity and other soil properties on the concentrations of 22 elements in Fagus sylvatica, Oxalis acetosella, Carex pilulifera, Carabus hortensis/nemoralis, Clethrionomys glareolus, Apodemus flavicollis and Ficedula hypoleuca was investigated in 30 stands of European beech in southern Sweden. Soil pH and metal-ion saturation were positively correlated with Al, Ca, Fe and Mg in plants. They were negatively correlated with Rb in 10 of the 11 plant and animal materials and with Mn in all the plants but only in one animal material. Clay was positively correlated with Al and Ni in plants and negatively correlated with Rb in plants and animals. Soil organic matter showed weak correlations except for Rb in animals (positive). The strong relationship between soil acidity and biological accumulation of Rb was maintained over several trophic levels. Soil properties usually accounted for 55–85% of the variability in the concentrations of Al, Mn and Rb in the plants. Except for Rb, the concentrations in animals were less explicable, possibly due to homeostatic regulation. In plants, K was increasingly preferred to Rb with increasing soil pH and clay content. Concentrations in organs of Apodemus flavicollis were significantly correlated with those in Fagus sylvatica nuts (the dominating food item) only for Cu in the liver.