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METAL CONTENT OF EARTHWORMS IN SLUDGE AMENDED SOILS: UPTAKE AND LOSS
Citation:
Neuhauser, E., M. Malecki, AND Z. Cukic. METAL CONTENT OF EARTHWORMS IN SLUDGE AMENDED SOILS: UPTAKE AND LOSS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/D-85/290.
Description:
The widespread practice of landspreading of sludge has raised concern about increasing concentrations of potentially toxic metals in soils, with the possibility of these metals adversely impacting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Earthworms, as one of the largest components of the soil biota, are useful indicators of potentially toxic soil metal concentrations. The study describes the metal content of five metals (Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in one earthworm species, Allolobophora tuberculata, as a function of varying soil metal concentrations in the same soil type and the ability of the earthworms to bioconcentrate the five metals. The rate of uptake of the five metals in earthworms with initially low concentrations of metals placed in a soil with high metal concentrations was evaluated for a 112 day period. The rate of loss of the five metals in earthworms with initially high metal concentrations placed in soil with low metal concentrations was also examined.