{
  "abstract": "To evaluate vegetation-associated mercury (Hg) loading in tropical regions affected by artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM), we quantified total mercury (HgT) in canopy leaves and leaf litter of Licania tomentosa across an ASGM-impacted urban center, Peixoto de Azevedo (PEI), and two lower-exposure reference sites: Nova Santa Helena (ASH) and a native forest fragment (ANM). Canopy leaves reached up to 543 μg kg–1 near gold-buying shops, with probabilistic modeling identifying a high-concentration subpopulation extending to 607 μg kg–1. Leaf litter consistently exhibited higher HgT than paired canopy leaves (RatioC = 1.39–4.70; mean = 3.15), indicating relative enrichment during senescence. Spatial interpolation suggested sharply localized vegetation-associated Hg hotspots within ∼300 m of gold-trading units, superimposed on a heterogeneous urban baseline. The regional baseline was defined using ASH, where HgT concentrations ranged from 6.82 to 35.31 μg kg–1 after excluding a single transport-related outlier. These results demonstrate that gold-trading corridors are plausible localized contributors to elevated HgT in urban vegetation and may produce Hg-enriched biomass that can enter municipal waste streams. This framework provides a high-resolution, low-cost approach for Hg surveillance in tropical ASGM regions and offers chemically grounded insight into vegetation-associated Hg patterns and biogeochemical partitioning in urban environments.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Campinas (UNICAMP) , , Rua Carlos Gomes, 250 , , ,",
    "Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT) , , Av. Alexandre Ferronato, 1200 , , ,",
    "University of Campinas (UNICAMP) , , P.O. Box 6154 , , ,",
    "Cardiff University , , Main Building, Park Place , , ,"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jerusa Schneider",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1176-8309"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sheyla dos Santos Brito"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "André Massanobu Ueno Kunifoshita"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ricardo Lopes Tortorela de Andrade",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2202-6813"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Anne-Hélène Fostier"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "James Lambert-Smith"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Maria José Maluf de Mesquita"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3bfq8335e3rwn.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1021/acsomega.6c07837",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "3bfq8335e3rwn",
  "issns": [
    "2470-1343"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://pubs.acs.org/acsodf/article/doi/10.1021/acsomega.6c07837/5453287/Vegetation-Associated-Mercury-Patterns-and",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2307|Mercury impact and mitigation studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222819840",
  "pdf_url": "https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acsomega.6c07837",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-17",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3bfq8335e3rwn.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:39Z",
      "native_id": "10.1021/acsomega.6c07837",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://pubs.acs.org/acsodf/article/doi/10.1021/acsomega.6c07837/5453287/Vegetation-Associated-Mercury-Patterns-and"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2307|Mercury impact and mitigation studies",
      "subfield": "pharmacology-toxicology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Vegetation-Associated Mercury Patterns and Biogeochemical Signals in a Tropical Urban Mining Region",
  "title_text": "Vegetation-Associated Mercury Patterns and Biogeochemical Signals in a Tropical Urban Mining Region",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:39Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3bfq8335e3rwn",
  "venue": "ACS Omega",
  "versions": []
}