Cadmium, copper, and zinc in soil animals and their food in a red clover system

Abstract

To evaluate the importance of soil macrofauna in the distribution and turnover of heavy metals, a red clover system was quantitatively sampled and the samples were analyzed for zinc, cadmium, and copper. Heavy metal levels in consumers were described in relation to the consumers' food web relationships. Cadmium was concentrated by earthworms, arthropod predators, and a herbivorous slug over the levels in their respective food items. Millipedes with highly calcareous exoskeletons had low amounts of Cd in their bodies but concentrated Cu and Zn. Earthworms and their faeces, millipedes, and carabid adults had low variability in Zn and Cd concentrations and could be used to monitor changes in levels of these metals in polluted soils.