Assessing Bioaccumulation in Earth Worms

Author(s): Ujah II, Onwurah INE, Ubani SC, Okeke DO and Okpashi VE

Various concentrations of lead (II) tetraoxosulphate (VI) were prepared by dissolving 1 g, 1.5 g, 2 g and 3 g of the salt in deionized water and making up to volume to100ml. Soil samples were prepared and allowed to equilibrate with the different concentrations of the salt samples. After equilibration, earthworm species which had been acclimatized to the in-situ environment were introduced the equilibrated soil samples. The earthworms were allowed to stay between 3-5 days in the soil samples. They were harvested and the lead (II) tetraoxosulphate (VI) content of the earthworm samples. The result showed that the earthworms possessed the ability to bioaccumulate the salt samples and the statistical analysis showed increase in bioaccumulation with increase in the salt content.