Mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant that emits in large quantities to the atmosphere (>6,000–8,000 Mg Hg per year) through anthropogenic activities, biomass burning, geogenic degassing and legacy emissions from land and oceans. Up to two-thirds of terrestrial Hg emissions are deposited back onto land, predominantly through vegetation uptake of Hg. In this Review, we assemble a global database of over 35,000 Hg measurements taken across 440 sites and synthesize the sources, distributions and sinks of Hg in foliage and vegetated ecosystems. Lichen and mosses show higher Hg concentrations than vascular plants, and, whereas Hg in above-ground biomass is largely from atmospheric uptake, root Hg is from combined soil and atmospheric uptake. Vegetation Hg uptake from the atmosphere and transfer to soils is the major Hg source in all biomes, globally accounting for 60–90% of terrestrial Hg deposition and decreasing the global atmospheric Hg pool by approximately 660 Mg. Moreover, it reduces the Hg deposition to global oceans, which, in the absence of vegetation, might receive an additional Hg deposition of 960 Mg per year. Vegetation uptake mechanisms need to be better constrained to understand vegetation cycling, and model representation of vegetation Hg cycling should be improved to quantify global vegetation impacts.

汞（Hg）是一种全球污染物，通过人为活动，生物质燃烧，地质脱气以及陆地和海洋的传统排放，大量排放到大气中（每年> 6,000–8,000 Mg Hg）。多达三分之二的陆地汞排放主要通过植被吸收的汞重新沉积到土地上。在本综述中，我们建立了一个全球数据库，该数据库包含440个站点​​的35,000多个汞测量值，并综合了叶片和植被生态系统中Hg的来源，分布和汇。地衣和苔藓显示出比维管植物更高的Hg浓度，而地上生物量中的Hg主要来自大气吸收，而根Hg来自土壤和大气综合吸收。从大气中吸收汞并转移到土壤是所有生物群落中汞的主要来源，在全球范围内，汞占陆地汞沉积的60％至90％，并使全球大气汞池减少约660 Mg。此外，它减少了全球海洋中的汞沉积，在没有植被的情况下，每年可能会增加960 Mg的汞沉积。需要更好地限制植被的吸收机制以了解植被循环，并且应该改善植被汞循环的模型表示以量化全球植被影响。