Cadmium assimilation in the terrestrial isopod, Porcellio dilatatus – Is trophic transfer important?

Terrestrial isopods have become important tools for the ecotoxicological assessment of metal-contaminated soils. Their value as an invertebrate model is partly because of their extraordinary capacity to bioaccumulate toxic metals from the environment. Replication of this accumulation process in the laboratory has in the past relied on the amendment of organic food substrates through the addition of inorganic metal salts. However, the bioavailability of the metals when presented through doping regimes may differ from the bioavailability of metals in nature, because over time metals become biologically compartmentalised and form complexes with organic molecules. This study examines the differential bioavailability of Cd to the terrestrial isopod, Porcellio dilatatus, when presented as either a Cd-amended diet or pre-incorporated biologically into lettuce (Lactuca sativa). Isopods were either provided with lettuce contaminated superficially with Cd(NO3)2 or lettuce grown hydroponically in growth media containing 100 μM Cd(NO3)2. Assimilation efficiency of Cd was greater among isopods that were fed the amended diet (71%, S.E.=7%), than among isopods feeding on biologically contaminated lettuce (52%, S.E.=5%) and demonstrates that speciation of Cd is likely to influence the rate of Cd assimilation and accumulation in a laboratory test.