Comparison of heavy-metal uptake by Eisenia foetida with that of other common earthworms. Final technical report

Earthworms have been used in the field to indicate levels of soil pollution and in the laboratory for the ecotoxicological testing of industrial chemicals. An earthworm bioassay procedure developed at the Waterways Experiment Station (Vicksburg, Mississippi) was modified and evaluated as a method of providing information on heavy-metal bioavailability in contaminated soils and sediments from Europe. Eight soils/sediments containing elevated levels of a least one of the elements Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb were selected as well as a control and a reference soil. Six species of earthworm, including the WES bioassay earthworm E. foetida, and five field species were grown in the soils/sediments for periods of 15, 28 or 56 days. Concentrations of the elements Zn, Cu, Cd, Ni, Cr and Pb present in the earthworm samples (corrected for the presence of soil-derived metals within the earthworm gut) were compared between earthworm species from the same soil and for each earthworm species from a range of metal contaminated soils/sediments. A close linear relationship between metal uptake by E.foetida and the field species of earthworm emerged and good correlation between total (HNO3/HC104) soil Pb and Cd levels and earthworm tissue concentrations and between DTPA extractable soil Cu and Cc levelsmore » and earthworm tissue concentrations was observed.« less