Effects of temperature and soil pollution on the presence of bacteria, coelomocytes and brown bodies in coelomic fluid of Dendrobaena veneta: The 7th international symposium on earthworm ecology · Cardiff · Wales · 2002

Abstract

Adult Dendrobaena veneta (Annelida; Oligochaete; Lumbricidae), were kept for 2-4 weeks at either 22 °C or 10 °C in control (C) heavy metal-free commercial soil, or in relatively unpolluted Krakow (K) urban soil, or in heavily polluted (Zn>Pb>Cd) Bukowno (B) industrial soil. At the end of exposures, the numbers of coelomocytes, brown bodies, and bacterial content was measured in coelomic fluid, while heavy metal accumulation was recorded in the animal tissues. The most drastic changes, with high mortality of animals (30 %), were recorded in D. veneta kept for 4 weeks at 22 °C in heavily polluted B soil samples; the number of free coelomocytes in the surviving worms in this treatment group was decreased, whilst the numbers of brown bodies and of bacteria (both free in coelomic fluid and entrapped in the brown bodies) were significantly increased. These changes were absent in earthworms exposed to B soil at 10 °C, as well as at both temperatures in relatively uncontaminated K soil.