Long-term responses of snails exposed to cadmium-contaminated soils in a partial life-cycle experiment.

Frédéric Gimbert (1) , Annette De Vaufleury (1) , Francis Douay (2, 3) , Renaud Scheifler (1) , Michael Coeurdassier (1) , Pierre-Marie Badot (1)

1 LCE - Laboratoire Chrono-environnement (UMR 6249)
2 LSE - Laboratoire Sols et Environnement
3 ISA - Institut Supérieur d'Agriculture de Lille

Juvenile snails were exposed during their growth period to Cd-contaminated field and artificial soils and then transferred to uncontaminated soil to assess the sequels of previous exposure on adult reproduction. Growth modelling highlighted growth inhibitions of 5% and 10% after 70 and 84 days of exposure to 20 and 100 mg Cd kg(-1) in artificial soils, respectively. Growth disruption was accompanied by a decrease in the clutch number and a 4-week delay in the egg-laying cycle. Although it was also contaminated at 20 mg Cd kg(-1), the contaminated field soil did not lead to detectable effects in snails, suggesting a lower Cd bioavailability confirmed by the bioaccumulation analysis. We demonstrated that the 28-day growth test, as advised by the ISO-guideline, may not be sufficient to assess sublethal toxic effects of realistically contaminated soils. For this purpose, a life cycle experimental set-up is proposed, allowing a thorough assessment of toxicity during successive life stages.

Domaines: Ecotoxicologie

Frédéric Gimbert, Annette De Vaufleury, Francis Douay, Renaud Scheifler, Michael Coeurdassier, et al.. Long-term responses of snails exposed to cadmium-contaminated soils in a partial life-cycle experiment.. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 2008, 70 (1), pp.138-46. ⟨10.1016/j.ecoenv.2007.05.014⟩. ⟨hal-00359910⟩