Kinetic and dynamic aspects of soil-plant-snail transfer of cadmium in the field.
The proper use of bioaccumulation in the assessment of environmental quality involves accounting for chemical fluxes in organisms. Cadmium (Cd) accumulation kinetics in a soil-plant-snail food chain were therefore investigated in the field under different soil contamination (from 0 to 40 mg kg(-1)), soil pH (6 and 7) and season. Allowing for an accurate and sensitive assessment of Cd transfer to snails, toxicokinetics appears an interesting tool in the improvement of risk assessment procedures and a way to quantify metal bioavailability for a defined target. On the basis of uptake fluxes, snails proved to be sensitive enough to distinguish moderate soil contaminations. The soil pH did not appear, in the range studied, as a modulating parameter of the Cd transfer from soil to snail whereas the season, by influencing the snail mass, may modify the internal concentrations. The present data specifying a time integrated assessment of environmental factors on metal bioavailability and transfer to terrestrial snails should ensure their rational use in environmental biomonitoring.
Gimbert
Frédéric
F
University of Franche-Comté, Department of Environmental Biology, EA 3184 MR UsC INRA, Place Leclerc, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France.
Mench
Michel
M
Coeurdassier
Michaël
M
Badot
Pierre-Marie
PM
de Vaufleury
Annette
A
D000818:Animals; D001682:Biological Availability; D018533:Biomass; D002104:Cadmium / Q000633:toxicity*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D020387:Food Chain; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008954:Models, Biological; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012621:Seasons; D012908:Snails / Q000502:physiology*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*
D012989:Soil Pollutants; D002104:Cadmium