Certain species of mushrooms, owing to their capacity to accumulate some bioavailable heavy metals such as Cd and Pb, can contain several-fold higher amounts of metals than the soil (speciation forms) in which they grow. It seemed noteworthy to undertake studies concerning the content of bioavailable forms of metals contained in the soil of mushroom habitats.
The field part of our study was performed in forest ecosystems found in the Silesian and Żywiecki Beskid mountains as well as in the Silesian Upland region of southern Poland. Altogether, 147 mushroom habitats were monitored, with particular consideration paid to wild mushroom habitats. Metal content was measured using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) at 0.01 μgMe/g precision limit. Measurement accuracy was verified using certified reference materials (Wzormat, Warsaw, Poland). Speciation analysis was performed according to a method described by Rudd.
Our investigation has demonstrated differing capacities of various mushroom species to accumulate selected elements, depending on their occurrence form of bioavailable metals in the habitat. Certain mushroom species together with results speciation heavy metals in soil can be used to monitor metal levels, particularly those that exhibit significant correlations in the content of, for example, Co, Ni, Cr, or Pb.